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FORTY YEARS 



Spiritual Eostrum. 



s 

By WARREN CHASE. 



A SEQUEL TO '-THE LIFE LINE OF THE LONE ONE," 
AN AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF THE AUTHOR, AS 



Stye SEorlU's Gijtttr, 



Who gave the First Public Lectures in this Country in 

Defence of Modern Spirit Intercourse, and whose 

Name is First on the List of Calls for Copies 

of "Nature's Divine Revelations/' 

when in Press in 1847. 



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BOSTON: 

COLBY & RICH, PUBLISHERS, 

9 BoawoRTH Street. 

1888. 






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Copyright, 1888, 
By WARREN CHASE. 



Typography by J. S. Cdshing & Co., Boston. 



PREFACE. 



The object in writing and publishing this work is not 
notoriety or money, as the author has plenty of the former, 
and will not long need the latter ; but it is to follow the 
spiritual and intellectual footsteps of the author, and to 
mark the progress of what is called Modern Spiritualism 
in the United States and Europe, during the first forty 
years of its growth and propagation, the author having 
started with its inception as an exponent and been con- 
stantly advocating and defending it and the mediums as 
the instruments through which the spiritual world is trying 
to make itself and its condition known to the denizens of 
this world. But few of the personal vicissitudes and in- 
cidents of the author will, or can, be recorded in the 
work ; but all who read this should read the " Life Line" 
of the author, which at the time of this writing is in its 
ninth edition,, and should be in its twentieth, as it is a 
work all young persons should read and profit by, and is 
an appropriate introduction to this, which is an old man's 
legacy to his friends. 

" Pride often guides the author's pen, 
Books as affected are as men ; 
But he who studies nature's laws. 
From certain truth his maxim draws." 



NO INTRODUCTION. 



Neither this book nor the author need an introduc- 
tion to Spiritualists, and it is not expected that many 
others will read it. It is largely a continuation of the 
singular life experiences of the author as related in his 
former works, and is largely made up of original and bor- 
rowed thoughts, collected and expressed in the long path 
of earthly existence. It is void of theology, as the author 
never had any, and never took any interest in faith, 
never being able to prove anything b} T it. In the poetical 
selections will be found genuine poetry and rhyme and 
jingle of words, but gems of thought in all, some of 
which are not published elsewhere, though many are. The 
newspaper correspondence is original and embodies many 
of the author's radical ideas. Many articles which editors 
declined to publish were even more radical and critical 
than any contained in this volume. I could have filled 
out this book with descriptions of phenomena I have 
witnessed ; but as our papers are full of such and tests 
constantly occurring, I decided to omit them. 



CONTENTS. 



—•<>♦— 



CHAPTER I. 

PAGE 

Internal and External Forebodings of Social, Political, and 
Religious Convulsions, Personal and General, resulting in 
a Social Effort by the Author 7 



CHAPTER II. 

Birth of Spirituatism — Eailure of Eourierism — Political 
Career Opened, and Sketches on the Path of Life by the 
Crooked and Tangled Line — The First Spiritual Paper, 
The Univercceliim, and its Objects Explained 14 

CHAPTER III. 

Early Work — Boston Investigator — Univercoelum, Spirit 
Messenger, and Early Workers, etc 30 

CHAPTER IV. 

Catalogue of Names and Short Biographical Notices of 
Early Workers and Persecutions 52 

CHAPTER V. 
A Brief and Brilliant Political Career 6-i 

CHAPTER VI. 

Threading my Way along the " Hard Road to Travel On " 
— Incidents and Events in the Path of Life 78 



b CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER VII. 

PAGE 

What I have learned from Forty Years' Intercourse with 
Spirits ■*- Sexual Life in the Spirit World — My Social, 
Political, and Religious Creed, etc 125 

CHAPTER VIII. 

Extracts and Scraps of Correspondence running through 
Many Years, with Various and Progressive Ideas on Spirit 
Life and Intercourse; with Scraps from my Scrap-book 
worth keeping and largely variegated 173 

CHAPTER IX. 

Poetical Selections from Various Sources, Personal and 
General — Good and Poor, but not Bad, greatly mixed, in 
Published and Unpublished Scraps 266 



FORTY TEAES OX THE SPIRITUAL 
ROSTRUM. 



CHAPTER I. 

CLIMBING UP THE GOLDEN STALR. 

" Man was born into this world, poor, naked, and bare, 
And his journey all through it is trouble and care, 
And his exit from out it is, no one knows where; 
But if well he do here, it will be well with him there : 
No more could I tell you by preaching a year." 

For several years before the advent of Modern Spirit- 
ualism, there had been internal forces working and fer- 
menting in my brain, which, rightly interpreted, were the 
premonitory symptoms of a change. These might be 
attributed in part, if not all, to the study and such atten- 
tion as I could give in my poverty and between my hours of 
labor, to the subject of phrenology, and later, to Fourier- 
ism and Mesmerism. Whether these were to produce a 
deeper-seated infidelity or agnosticism, or some change 
out of these, I, of course, could not foresee : but I never 
had. and never have, felt a leaning toward the supports of 
faith and hope which the Christian Church hold up. Phre- 
nology led me farther away than astronomy and geology 
had previously clone, and when Mesmerism and psychology 
and biology were added. I was entirely out of the reach 
and out of all sympathy with the creeds of Christians, 
however much respect, esteem, or love I might have for 



8 FOKTY YEARS ON 

persons who I considered as surrounded by its fogs of 
superstition. 

Reviewing the history of the past in all steps of evolu- 
tionary progress, and especially in religion, and still more 
especially in Christianity, there seems to have been some 
minds prepared for the reception of each new discovery 
and each new sect, as in each new step of any kind in 
human progress. Such was the case with Columbus, as 
with Luther and Melanchthon ; with John Wesley and John 
Murray ; with Darwin, John Stuart Mill, Huxley, Spencer, 
and A. J. Davis ; as well as with Swedenborg. Earlier 
still, Mohammedanism, like its older sister Christianity, 
although both were forced upon the people by tyrannical 
power with the sword and fagot and the most cruel per- 
secution- Yet, undoubtedly, the ages and the people 
were largely ripe for them, as the older systems had 
become effete and outgrown. The Roman gods had lost 
their power over the hearts of the people, and the sun- wor- 
shippers of Western Asia had grown cold and careless in 
their devotions. Systems, like animals, become pregnant 
and bring forth new systems, — sometimes in single births, 
and sometimes in broods, as Catholicism did in its Prot- 
estant brood of children, and now grandchildren and 
several later generations, which, although most of them 
draw credal support from the old homestead, they do not 
go there to rest, but build new houses of their own for 
this world and the next. 

The dreamers in the early part of this century began to 
" toss and sigh,'' and in the religious minds there were 
many premonitions of some great event about to be born 
near the middle of the present century. Some predicted 
the coming of their Christ and the final winding up of the 
temporal affairs of this world, with a general resurrection 
of the dead and a general judgment. Others predicted 
some astronomical and planetary as well as atmospheric 



THE SPIRITUAL ROSTRUM. 9 

change ; and others, some great social change, such as a 
few spasmodic efforts in Fourier's system of social life 
started in this country, which soon failed because prema- 
ture. False prophets all failed in their specific predictions, 
and yet a great event was born, and is yet in the hands 
.of its dry-nurse, but rapidly growing and gaining strength, 
which in time will supersede all Pagan, Christian, and 
Mohammedan religions. In 1842 and 1843 many sensitive, 
honest, but ignorant Christians in our country who went 
by the name of Adventists, fully believed with abundant 
faith that the Scriptures were to be fulfilled in what they 
called a prophecy of the coming Christ and the end of 
this world in a general conflagration ; and many prepared 
their white robes for an ascension to a higher and happier 
life. But of course, like all other Scripture prophecies and 
predictions, it failed to be fulfilled as predicted, and yet 
the trembling soul-impulse that went through these sensi- 
tives had a portent and was to all intents the forerunner of 
an event to come. This, like many others, was one of the 
pains that preceded the birth of an event that was destined 
to supersede Christianity and other religions, in a natural 
way, but not as a miracle or supernatural occurrence. 

The writer was not affected by this religious tidal wave, 
never having been a Christian, and never having believed 
the Bible to be the " Word of God," or more sacred than 
other old books written in the ages of scientific ignorance ; 
but he was taken on the social tidal wave of Fonrierism 
and led into it by some very able and enthusiastic writers 
in the New York Tribune, then edited by Horace Greeley. 
Taking an active part in the discussion of this question 
in the Lyceum and public meetings in Southport, Wis. 
(now Kenosha), he became somewhat infatuated with the 
foreshadowed beauties of a higher and better social life 
than our competitive system, in which and from which lie 
had suffered and still did suffer in a sort of " devil take 



10 FORTY YEAES OK 

the hindermost" race for homes and subsistence. I had by 
the hardest and severest trials and struggles, always aided 
and supported by every effort in the power of my feeble 
and faithful wife, who passed to spirit life in 1875, 
secured a poor little cottage home of one room, as fully 
and truthfully described in the " Life Line." From this 
uncomfortable, but to us comparatively comfortable home, 
I began a mental growth which has never ceased ; and 
from important events which occurred there a new world 
finally opened to me, with which at this time, nearly a 
half-century later, I am partially as familiar as with this ; 
for there lives the companion who struggled with me and 
obtained and occupied this home ; there also are the other 
two members of our family who passed over from this 
home when to us that world was not known to exist, and 
when (in 1843) we did not know where they had gone, but 
supposed, and it seemed most likely to us, as we put their 
bodies in the little grave, that it was the last we should ever 
see or hear of them. One was a beautiful boy of nearly 
two years' growth, and the idol of its mother, uncommonly 
bright and promising ; and it was a terrible blow to the 
feeble mother, then carrying another which prematurely 
hurried into this life and in a few months followed the 
other out of it. These two events, and especially the 
first, started a serious and somewhat painful train of 
thought and deep research into the mysteries of nature 
which seemed to bring children into this world and often 
hurry them out of it ; but where ? was the great question. 
Where did they come from? Where did they go to? 
Were they new creations in whole, or only in part, as the 
body surely was? If new creations, by what power cre- 
ated? Certainly not by the will of the parents. Could 
an involuntary action in a cell of inorganic matter pro- 
duce such wonderful structures ? But this was going into 
too deep water for one whose mind had never explored 



THE SPIRITUAL HOSTETJM. 11 

the metaphysical fields of thought, but who had ever been 
struggling with poverty and its burdens and trials in life, 
and yet with painful forebodings his thoughts would fol- 
low the dear little ones to the — where ? 

In this eventful year, 1843, some experiments in Mes- 
merism led my mind into a tangled maze of curious 
experiments, but did not then open the spiritual world to 
my perception ; for the more pressing and more promis- 
ing socialism of Fourier took the precedence and led me 
into the organization of a Phalanx, instituted for the pur- 
pose of getting up a. new settlement and better homes, 
which plan was carried out in 1844, as fully described in 
the " Life Line," and into which at first, in a still ruder 
and cruder home, the family was moved, the wife, sorrow- 
fully but ever trustingly, as a faithful companion, going 
with the rest, bidding the old home and the graves farewell 
forever. Here, as related in the " Life Line," she and 
the feeble boy suffered a terribly severe attack of fever and 
came near the door that led to the home of the boys ; but in 
my absence, extraordinary efforts and the best of medical 
skill and care saved both for future usefulness, and ably 
and faithfully did both perform the parts in life assigned 
them. She, a fully developed Spiritualist and medium 
before she passed over ; and he as a surgeon in the army 
during three years of the war, and, as I write this, a skil- 
ful physician and leader in the cause of temperance, and 
among the Grangers of his native State of Michigan, and 
the father of seven as fine children as I have seen in my 
long journeys. Our daughter, two years younger, who 
tenderly cared for her mother in our joint home in South- 
ern Illinois, and in whose presence her mother passed 
on to the higher life, is also one of the best of wives and 
mothers, with a beautiful family of six children, the eldest 
of which, as I write this, is editor of a paper in St. Louis, 
and professor of pharmacy in the college there. In the 



12 FOBTY YEAES ON 

same city is also our other son, a bachelor, on the police 
force. He was born ten years after his brother, and in 
the Phalanx, and after the birth of Spiritualism inherited 
much of his mother, and is a universal favorite with all 
who know him. In closing this family picture I may as 
well say that in all of my family connections, including a 
second wife and her daughter and daughter's husband, 
not one of us uses tobacco or intoxicating drink, and none 
of my grandchildren use tea or coffee regularly ; and none 
of us are poisoned physically with calomel, or mentally 
with sectarian Christianity. Certainly none of either were 
inherited from us by our children, and none by their 
children from them. 

In the spring of 1844 our Fourierism culminated, and 
the Wisconsin Phalanx was born. We located it in an 
uninhabited township in the northwest corner of Fond du 
Lac County, Wis., and named it " Ceresco," changed 
to Bipon after we broke up and scattered, owing to the 
opposition of whiskey, Christianity, speculation, and pop- 
ular prejudice against any and every reform that promised 
release to the poverty-stricken masses, who were kept down 
by these tyrants that caused nearly all such evils, and of 
which our Phalanx had none, as we were only social re- 
formers. In the fall our little house was sold, and we all 
went there and lived in the new mode of life six years, — 
never fully satisfactory to either of us, less so to the wife 
than to me, but always hopeful of a better day, and the 
opening of a new heaven and new earth which was coming, 
but in an entirely different direction from that in which 
we were looking for it. Soon after our enterprise was 
started, one after another of the twenty or more Fourier 
associations in the States failed, till at last all were gone, 
the Brook Farm in Massachusetts, and the North American 
Phalanx in Red Bank, N. J., going last. All but ours 
were financial failures ; ours closed a financial success, 



THE SPIRITUAL ROSTRUM. 13 

but a social failure. Before we closed out ours, a new 
light had dawned upon many of us in the Spiritual 
Philosophy, and its new and crude phenomena. These 
references are made to the premonitory symptoms of a 
new birth to the world, because I was involved in thera, 
and they were to me personally what they were to the 
country generally, as the half-century has shown. I need 
not follow farther the social problem, or my connection 
with it, as there are several records of it, all very imper- 
fect ones, in the history of Fond du Lac County, evidently 
written in prejudice against me because I went into the 
spiritual field of labor instead of the spiritual world. 
A more accurate account was written by me in John 
H. Noyes' " History of American Socialism," but its 
author had strong prejudice against me on account of my 
religious views. A brief, and, so far as it goes, correct 
one may be found in my " Life Line" ; and with this I 
leave the social convulsion, adding only that I believe 
there will be, at no very distant day, an entirely new and 
far better state of social life on earth. 



14 FORTY YEARS ON 



CHAPTER II. 

LAND AHEAD. — A REVOLVING LIGHT IN THE 
DISTANCE. 

" Voyager upon life's sea, to yourself be true : 
But if you would succeed, you must paddle your own canoe." 

In the fall of 1843 and winter of 1843 and 1844 I, with 
a few others, even during the Millerite and Fonrierite 
excitements, began our experiments in Mesmerism in 
Southport. Whether we had then heard of the experi- 
ments with A. J. Davis, or of Laroy Sunderland, or of 
Cornell and others in Cincinnati, I do not now remember; 
bat soon after our experiments we read in public and 
private circles evidence of the remarkable success of 
theirs, which was not unlike ours, only far more complete 
and more confirmatory of the few shadowy glimpses of 
the spirit world which came to us through the imperfect 
subjects we found in our experiments. Had not the 
more immediate and more pressing social subject carried 
us off in the spring of 1844, it is probable we should have 
opened there and then direct intercourse between our- 
selves and the denizens of the spirit world. That move- 
ment set us back, but did not extinguish the dim light 
we had seen ; and a few of us in the Phalanx reached 
after and obtained all we could get of the published 
reports of experiments by these and other parties, until 
when, in 1847, the first book of A. J. Davis, now author 
of thirty odd works, was issued. I had an order long 
waiting for one dozen copies, to be sent, as soon as bound, 
to Milwaukee, where we could get them, that being our 



THE SPIRITUAL ROSTRUM. 15 

nearest express office. At this time the new impulse had 
shaken the liberal Universalist churches. T. L. Harris, 
S. B. Brittan, R. P. Ambler, William Fishbough, and 
John M. Spear had been taking in the spirit of the new 
age, and were coming out as advocates of a new religion. 
They were soon followed by man}' others from that and 
other churches. With myself and the few engaged with 
me there was no religious element in our investigations ; 
they were purely scientific and metaphysical. Especially 
was this so with myself, who had been from childhood 
called an infidel, and long a reader of the Boston Investi- 
gator, it being the first paper I ever subscribed for, and 
to which I had been an occasional contributor. Hence 
I expected no help from God or the Holy Spirit, nor 
from prayers, and we had none of either. In the early 
experiments in these localities, and probably others not 
referred to, some astonishing developments were reached 
which have rarely been superseded, and never set aside, 
the most remarkable being a volume called "Nature's 
Divine Revelations," spoken through the organism of 
A. J. Davis while under the magnetic influence of Dr. 
L}'on, and written down as spoken by William Fish- 
bough in the presence of others, all testifying that in no 
sense did it come from the mind of Mr. Davis nor from 
any of the minds of persons visibly present. When this 
book was published, the year before the rappings at Hycles- 
ville, N.Y., in the Fox family, had been recognized as 
coming from spirits or a spirit, it settled in many minds 
the origin of much of the intelligence received in other 
places and through other mesmerized persons. Espe- 
cially was this so in my own case and those who with me 
had been experimenting and reading of the experiments 
of others with similar results. I have never doubted 
from that day to this the spiritual origin of the intelli- 
gence received through persons mesmerized by mortals or 



16 FORTY YEARS ON 

by spirits when the intelligence does not come from the 
mind of the medium. 

The New York Tribune, which at that time as the organ 
of Horace Greeley, who was an active reformer and de- 
fender of the interests of the masses until he became a 
popular politician and partially, but not wholly, a monop- 
olist, not only defended the investigation of Fourierism, 
but also of Spiritualism, until its present editor, Whitelaw 
Reid, got so much control of it as to make it become, as \ 
it now is, one of the most outspoken defenders of monop- 
olists and political tyranny in the nation. This paper 
and Mr. Greeley did much to encourage the early experi- 
ments and investigation which has at last settled forever 
the fact of spirit intercourse. Much is due him and his 
paper, now so utterly lost to integrity and honesty even 
in politics. During those early experiments Laroy 
Sunderland published a highly instructive paper which 
we read with deep interest. In that paper he connected 
Mesmerism and psychology with spirit life and intercourse ; 
but when he found that he could not monopolize the sub- 
ject, and become its leader and the founder of its philoso- 
phy, he soured on the subject and abandoned it. His 
paper died, and he lingered in the cold fogs of agnosti- 
cism and doubt, and at a very old age passed out of this 
world in the faith of infidelity, but discovered at death a ( 
dim " light in the window, " and put in an appearance on j 
the other shore, I think, in the year 1885. His last years 
must have been gloomy, judging from his contributions to 
the liberal papers and in his bitter opposition to what he 
once proved to be true, and to a knowledge of which truth 
he helped others who have never backslid. The biogra- 
phy of those who gathered around Mr. Davis in that early 
time would be highly interesting, but as I was not one of 
them, although watching at a distance with deep interest 
the strange revelations, I am not the person to write it, 



THE SPIRITUAL ROSTRUM. 17 

but wish Mr. Davis would, as he could do it better than 
any one else. 

There seems to have been no substantial benefit or per- 
manent advantage to the cause of spiritual intercourse, or 
practical and scientific demonstration of the truth derived 
from any of these experiments, except through Mr. Davis. 
The far less important ones were at our Ceresco home in 
Wisconsin ; Laroy Sunderland having turned his aside, 
and the experimenters in Cincinnati having tried to turn 
theirs into a field of speculation and failed in that part of 
it, most — though not all — gave it up. Old Major Gano 
and a few others having once gained the knowledge of 
spirit life and intercourse, never gave it up ; but he retained 
it to a ripened old age and had it before him as a light- 
house on the other shore when he passed over the chan- 
nel. At Ceresco most of us held out ; some have passed 
on, and others like myself are still anchored in the knowl- 
edge partially gained before the Hydesville raps were 
discovered to be made by spirits, and subsequently by 
other modes of intercourse fully established. 

Through the then wonderful manifestations in and 
through Mr. Davis, man}' were converted to a belief 
of their spiritual origin, and several popular preachers in 
Universalist churches left their pulpits and became public 
defenders of the new gospel. Among them no one held 
out better or did more faithful work than S. B. Brittan, 
who passed over too early to do all the good he could 
have done here with his masterly eloquence and trenchant 
pen, which was ever ready and active in the cause to the 
day of his death. T. L. Harris also came out about the 
same time, and exceeded Mr. B. in inspirational eloquence 
and poetic imagery, but lacked his firm stability of char- 
acter and steadfastness, and after a few years of wonder- 
ful success as an inspirational lecturer and writer, especially 
of poetry, he ran into a wild fanaticism under what he evi- 



18 EOETY YEAES ON 

denth believed to be the Lord Jesus Christ, an imaginary 
person of whom none of the rest of us knew anything, 
and who as such imaginary person seems to this day to 
have exerted no influence except what is detrimental to 
true scientific spirit intercourse. Later, Mr. Harris, with 
the aid of some English capitalists who were converts, 
founded a colony at Brockton, N.Y., and later still sold 
out there and purchased and built up a grand and beauti- 
ful community house at Santa Rosa, CaL, which I over- 
looked, or looked over, in 1882, but could not see him, as 
he was sick, but not unto death, as he did not believe in 
dying. 

William Fishbough, who also left his pulpit for the new 
cause, and who was the scribe of the great and grand 
volume referred to, although a firm believer to the day of 
his sudden and accidental death from a fall, had early 
grown cold for some reason never fully known to me, 
and did but little work in its propagation, although never 
opposing it. R. P. Ambler, another eloquent defender 
from the same sectarian pulpit, and who did a grand 
work in the early days when there was most need, later 
in the cause backed into his old church, as was asserted 
by his friends, because the support was insufficient for 
his family. Fanny Green, an able and eloquent writer 
of both prose and poetry, came early into the work, re- 
mained firm to the day of her death in California as Mrs. 
Fanny Green McDougal, leaving some works written and 
unpublished, but ever a faithful worker in the cause. From 
the legal profession, somewhat later, but still early, came 
Hon. J. W. Edmonds, Governor Tallmadge, Joel Tiffany, 
and Judge Larabee (all now gone over except Tiffany) , 
and many others I cannot mention here. From the medi- 
cal profession, Drs. Gray, R. T. Hallock, Lyon, Gard- 
ner, Nichols, and many others, most of them holding out ; 
but Dr. H. T. Childs of Philadelphia, after many years 



THE SPIRITUAL ROSTRUM. 19 

of faithful work, took shelter in the Quaker church from 
which he had come out. 

In 1847, when our Phalanx colony was three years old, 
I was nominated by the Democrats, to which party I had 
belonged since a voter, for the constitutional convention 
of Wisconsin, then a Territory preparing for State gov- 
ernment. Fond du Lac County was entitled to three dele- 
gates, and I was elected by running ahead of my ticket, 
on which my two colleagues were defeated. In that con- 
vention my first speech was made against capital punish- 
ment, and it was the first and last I ever wrote out and 
read in any public assembly, as I found I was a better 
speaker than reader of my own writings. In that conven- 
tion, when discussing the suffrage question in committee 
of the whole. I moved to strike out the word white, and 
had fourteen votes for my motion out of about one hun- 
dred and ninety members, and then moved to strike out 
the word male, and had one vote beside my own. I had 
then been for some years in favor of perfect equality be- 
tween the races and sexes, and have had no reason to 
change my opinions on this subject since, and I believe 
my public and private life has ever been consistent on all 
of these questions of political, social, and religious re- 
forms. 

The work of this convention was not accepted by the 

voters, and the next year another convention was elected, 

to which I was returned as one of two for our county ; 

and in this, by my motion, I secured equal rights to all 

citizens without regard to their opinions on the subject of 

{ religion ; and the journal shows more references to me 

than to any other member, as I took a very active part 

I and was chairman of the committee on banks and bank- 

I ing, then a very exciting subject, in which I opposed all 

I banks of issue, as I have ever since. The work of this 

convention was accepted. In 1848 Wisconsin entered 



20 FOBTY YEAES ON 

the Union, and I was elected to the State Senate for our 
county and Winnebago by the Democrats, and in the two 
sessions of my term took a very active part in the busi- 
ness, which it is not proper to record here. In the second 
session I was on the judiciary committee, a record very 
rare if ever found in the history of judiciary committees 
where a member was not a lawyer. There are still some 
of the reform measures that can be traced to me in the 
laws of that State, especially the divorce laws and the 
homestead exemption. I also got the usury laws repealed ; 
but they were soon after reinstated and people deceived 
by them, as they always are. I introduced a bill to re- 
peal all laws for the collection of debts, and still believe 
it would be good policy for any and every State, thus 
leaving all debts debts of honor. 

In the State election of 1849 I received 3761 votes for 
governor of Wisconsin as the Free Soil party's candi- 
date, as I had called the State convention* of that party, 
presided over it, and drew up its platform ; and I believe 
it was the first State convention of the party which 
eventually became the Republican party by a change of 
name. Nelson Dewey was elected by the Democrats, a 
good infidel governor. If the reader will pardon this 
digression from the historic line of this work, I will close 
out the Wisconsin political digression by noting that in 
1852 I was on the electoral ticket for Hale and Julian, and 
one of the vice-presidents of the. National Convention at 
Pittsburgh, that nominated them, and made the last of the 
four set speeches of that convention, Joshua R. Giddings, 
Gerrit Smith, and Fred Douglass preceding me. During 
this political work, and while writing constantly for sev- 
eral political papers in the State, I was steadily and con- 
stantly investigating, as best I could, the philosophy and 
phenomena of spirit life and intercourse ; and also as 
one of the principal managing members of the Phalanx, 



i 



THE SPIRITUAL ROSTRUM. 21 

twas carrying out our social experiment, which we closed 
up in 1850 and 1851, paying off all our stock and its 
« dividends and every dollar of debts, and making several 
(dividends beside, so that no complaint was ever made of 
I fraud or dishonesty in its business, all of which of a legal 
■character was transacted by me. 

i In 1847 the long and anxiously looked for book from 
A. J. Davis put in an appearance, and no book was ever 
jmore welcomed by me, several members of the Phalanx, 
;and others of my old friends at Southport, among them 
iC. L. Sholes, who sent for a quantity of them, and as 
editor of a paper gave it a notice and supplied them, and 
when elected to the State Senate the same year I was, he 
brought them, and, we occupying the same double desk as 
the 6i David and Jonathan " of the Senate, we kept them 
on and in our desk, and often discussed the merits of 
the book, and defended its spiritual origin. This was 
in 1848 and 1849, when we knew little of the rapping at 
Brdesville, that had been recognized as spiritual and was 
creating great excitement, in which we were all deeply in- 
terested ; and I expected much, but not as much as has 
grown out of it in forty years. 

Previous to the publication of this book, "Nature's 
Divine Revelations," none of the believers in its spiritual 
origin had separated themselves from Christianity, but 
several had liberated themselves from sectarian bondage. 
I do not know the precise time that Harris, Brittan, 
Mumler, Fernald or Fishbough separated from their 
respective churches ; but they all, and many others, de- 
fended the spiritual origin of this book, and the intelli- 
gence that controlled and came through Mr. Davis, and 
in 1847 twelve of them, including the above and Mr. 
Davis and Fanny Green, organized and started the Uhi- 
verccelum and Spiritual Philosopher, with S. B. Brittan 
as editor-in-chief, and the other eleven as associates. 



22 FORTY YEARS OK 

The first number was issued Dec. 4, 1847, about fou: 
months before the rappings were recognized at Hydesville 
In this paper, every copy of which I have bound an 
sacredly kept, were many of the best written and most pro 
found articles on our philosophy that have been written 
and some of the best inspirational poems, by T. L. Harrii 
and Fanny Green, that grace our literature. Mr. Harris] 
was born in Stratford, England, May 15, 1823. He wai 
brought to this country in 1827 by his father, and had t< 
sustain, educate, and develop himself principally, as his 
mother died when he was a child. At seventeen he begaij 
to write for the press, and at twenty-one he left Calvinism, 
embraced IJniversalism, and preached it till he reached 
Spiritualism. In the spring of 1848 he had an independ- 
ent society of Christians, with Spiritualism in it, in New 
York ; but he never abandoned Christ, and hence becam^ 
a fanatic and enthusiast, and tried to found a new ChrisA 
tian society at Mountain Cove, Va., in which attempt he' 
failed, although claiming Jesus Christ as the guide and 
director of the enterprise. After that he became useless 
and worthless to the cause of Spiritualism, though he still 
claimed the divine inspiration and guidance. S. B. 
Brittan stood boldly out in defence of true Spiritualism, 
and began to defend it by lectures soon after I did, but 
neither he nor any other lecturer preceded me as a lecturer 
in its defence as a science or religion, separate and dis- 
tinct from Christianity. 

In the first volume of the Uhiverccelum I find but one 
article of mine, though I think several were sent to it j 
and though the volume closed the last of May, 1848, ancjl 
the rapping excitement ran high, I find no reference to i 
as a sign of spirit intercourse, it being evidently con 
sidered of too low and obscure an origin to be though 
worthy of notice in a paper taking so high a position i 
the literary circles ; for the Uhiverccelum was really a^ 



THE SPIRITUAL EOSTEUM. 23 

/^oaper of high merit and talent. It was evident, however, 
\ihat it had too much dignit}' and too much Christianity to 
, be, for any length of time, an exponent of Spiritualism, 
frtiich was now coming as Christianity did, if it came in 
ihe time ascribed to it, among the poor and needy and 
despised, who had no popularity or dignity except the 
natural dignity with which all born children are endowed. 
In the latter part of 1847, or early winter of 1848 (the 
axact date being lost), I held a discussion in the stone 
schoolhouse in Ceresco, with Eev. H. H. Vanamringe, on 
the origin and merits of "Nature's Divine Revelations," 
I defending its spiritual origin, and he opposing it and 
abusing the book and its author for not accepting Christ, 
in whom he was a firm believer,. This was my first public 
speech in defence of the philosophy of spirit life and inter- 
course, and opened the new field of public speaking and 
writing in which I have labored ever since, and making, 
in the early part of the } T ear 1888, my forty years. I 
thought, and most if not all of my hearers thought, I fully 
sustained my points, and I had one evidence in the anger 
and bitterness of my opponents, for, as James Russell 
Lowell says, " The fellow that first gits mad's most 
allers wrong." After this discussion, I availed myself of 
every favorable opportunity to give public lectures on the 
subject, taking u Nature's Divine Revelations" as my 
text-book, until others appeared, often putting in some of 
my own experiences. As I had none of the Christianity 
In my discourses, such as our Universalist come-outers kept 
and mixed in theirs, I often shocked church-goers, and 
sometimes frightened away good honest Christian inquiry. 
[ always relied on science and nature, not on God or Provi- 
dence or Christ, as the evidence by which I sustained the 
spirit life and its intercourse with us. Those who held 
fast to Christianity with one hand, and prayed and thanked 
God for spirit intercourse, believing it to be a developed 



24 FORTY YEARS ON 

J 
phase of Christianity, were more popular as speakers, bu' 
did not do more or better, if as good, work in opening 
the new dispensation as I did, as the sequel has proved. 
Until my work in and with the Phalanx was closed up 
I could not give much time to lecturing on this subject 
but my pen, which had been used extensively in defenct 
of social, political, and religious reforms, was ready to' 
take up this subject and cautiously put it over my nam( 
before the public. On page 343 of the first volume oi( 
the JJniverccelum is the following, over my name anc< 
dated Ceresco, Wis., March 20, 1848, only ten days 
before the Hydesville phenomena, which was not known tc 
us till sometime after their occurrence. 



"The Philosophy of To-day. 

\ 
44 It is by no means singular that the new philosophy 

which shadows forth a brighter day, indicating our con-1 
nection in this physical sphere with a succeeding spirit y 
life, should meet with strong and stubborn opposition 
from the tardy and conservative world of mind. The pre- 
vailing theology and philosophy of this age is the ultimate 
development of principles once new and strenuously op- 
posed, but which contained more truth and light than the 
conservative world was prepared for at the age of their 
discovery. But they have nearly developed themselves, 
completed their circle, and finished their destiny. The 
evident signs which this age bears of a transition, show 
plainly that they must now give way to a new system, 
containing — as the greater circle contains the less — 
all truth and light which is within its sphere ; thus ren- 
dering useful the little truth which past ages have dis- 
covered, and embracing in its wider range all knowledge 
contained in former sys terns. 

44 If the coming age, with its new philosophy, shall sue- 



" 



THE SPIRITUAL EOSTKUM. 25 

ceed in securing general happiness, by establishing har- 
mony and unity in our moral, social, and political rela- 
! tions with one another, it will accomplish what formal 
i Christianity and civilization have long preached, but never 
practised, — long taught in faith, but never realized in 
life ; nor, indeed, could it be, for the clergy have been the 
' blind leaders of the blind.' The world has been pro- 
gressing through every past age, and rapidly in the present 
age of civilization and refinement ; but its head (the 
teachers of theology, divinity, and spirituality) has been 
cut off and accidentally put on with the face backward, 
and even then, it would seem, with the eyes bandaged, for 
they would not use even past experiences. It can hardly 
be righted without being again severed from its hold on 
the great body of humanity which will never fail to go 
forward in perfecting itself and completing its circle of 
circles, spirally winding forward and upward to the de- 
velopment physically of truth, harmony, mirth, and hap- 
piness ; and spiritually of life, light, liberty, and purity, 
and in both spheres, impelled by love acting by will and 
directed by wisdom. 

" The materials of which our earth is composed doubtless 
passed through a long period of successive and continually 
progressive ages and changes before it could produce and 
sustain in the simplest form a vegetable. And science, 
as well as reason, teaches us that a long time was occu- 
pied in the process of production and reproduction, growth 
and decay, before the vegetable kingdom could develop 
either the flower or the fruit. Life in its lowest form is 
produced in the vegetable kingdom, and the flower is the 
highest development and the theology of that kingdom, 
corresponding to the spiritual development of humanity 
in its earthly sphere ; and by and through the fruit is its 
death or transition to a new and higher manifestation of 
its existence. It required a long time for the earth, 



26 FOKTY YEARS ON 

through the medium of vegetable productions, to pro- 
duce the higher types of animal and vegetable organiza- 
tion. The lowest type of animal may produce sensation, 
and the highest type, being man, exhibits mind in its 
simplest degree, which is the flower of the animal king- 
dom, the specimens of which as yet correspond only to 
the rudest and simplest flowers of the vegetable kingdom 
comparatively. Man is the only animal on this earth that 
brings forth a flower which is now evincing signs of a 
fruit that will be a true state of human life, guided, 
governed, and directed by the spiritual man. The out- 
ward form will die, and man pass another transition, to 
commence a new and higher and more glorious sphere of 
development. Every lover of goodness and truth will 
hail with joy the new philosophy, as the positive sign of 
4 a good time coming.' It shadows forth distinctly the 
approaching commencement of that condition of earth 
and man portrayed more or less vividly by Isaiah, Daniel, 
Jesus, and the Revelation, and by Swedenborg and Fou- 
rier. The animal kingdom has yet to produce its more 
perfect flower, or spiritual manifestation, and through that, 
its fruit, a true state of human society. 

"The great body of mankind, guided and directed by 
the blind theology and philosophy of the past, is inclined to 
oppose, obstruct, and retard this onward march as much 
as possible ; wandering in darkness, ignorance, and dis- 
order, with the back to the light, seeking by competition, 
strife, and antagonism for peace and unity ; seeking in 
filth and depravity for purity and beauty. If men con- 
tinue to seek thus, they may and will find at last, but 
perhaps as ignorantly and unexpectedly as the fool found 
a Messiah. More light, more truth, more knowledge is 
what we want, is what we seek, and a concerted action to 
live a true life, as well as to embrace the faith of a true 
brotherhood. Warren Chase. 

" Ceresco, Wis., March 20, 1848." 



THE SPIRITUAL BOSTRTJM. 27 

Up to this time the door to the other life was only ajar, 
and in a few places onl} T through mesmerized subjects had 
the dwellers in that life begun to talk to us, and tell us of 
their existence and their relation to this world. I had 
sent several articles before this ; but as the board of 
editors were not entirely freed from Christianity, I was 
no doubt a little too infidel in my language ; besides, I 
was but a poor man, a laborer. 

With the third year of its existence, and third volume, 
the Uhiverccelum succumbed to the popular prejudice ex- 
pressed in all of the religious, and most of the secular 
press, and uttered with the vindictive spirit of persecution 
from the pulpits of nearly all sects ; in some instances 
even that of the Universalists, which had borne and nearly 
outlived the persecution of the orthodox pulpits, joined 
their persecutors in abusing us for being as far in advance 
of them as they were of orthodoxy. It was currently 
reported and believed by many that the twelve apostles 
of the Univerccelum and a few others wished and designed 
to found a new religious sect, and to retain Mr. Davis as 
the oracle, and that he rebelled and broke up the plans ; 
and as the phenomenal intercourse opened at Hydesville, 
N.Y., and rapidly spread from Rochester, to which city 
it was soon removed, and the elder sister of the Fox girls, 
Mrs. Fish, was added to the mediums, largely augmenting 
the mental strength and mediumistic force of the move- 
ment, of course the monopoly was broken, and its forces 
scattered. Mr. Davis, Mr. Brittan, and others remained 
firm in support of the spiritual origin of the phenomena, 
while some of the early advocates switched off upon the 
side-tracks, and stood still till death took them, or are 
there yet. Other papers started up in defence of the 
opened intercourse with the unseeu world, in various 
localities, and each in its turn, after a short life, gave 
way to the pressure ; but each contributed something to 



28 EOETY YEAES ON 



the cause, and none of it was lost, as all was seed scat- 



tered by the wayside, and some fell on good soil, and was 
not burned out by the scorching fires of sectarian persecu- 
tion, or the vulgar ridicule of the drunken rabble which 
always echoes the voice of the pulpit when it is on the 
popular side in its persecutions. This was the fate of all 
of the many papers that started till the staunch old 
Bannek of Light put in an appearance to stay, but for 
several years in doubt of final success. 

Thus somewhat crudely, and perhaps prematurely, I 
began my ministrations in and for the new philosophy 
or religion, if it was a religion, in the autumn of 1847, 
and with tongue and pen, to the best of my ability and 
with increasing knowledge, have I continued it, without 
ever taking in any of the absurdities or fanaticisms of the 
Christian sects. As our facts increased and our numbers 
multiplied, and we thus became strong, having outlived 
their scandalous attacks and abuse, they began to lessen 
their bitterness, and some of the best men in the pulpits 
began to introduce into their sermons and literature some 
of our philosophy and facts ; and many of our advocates 
thought they were coming to us. Yet I did not, and do 
not, for their conventions and resolutions are still out- 
spoken against Spiritualism ; while many of those who 
either know or fully believe in spirit intercourse, visit 
and support the churches which, if they could, would \ 
crush us out and utterly destroy every vestige of our 1 
facts and the philosophy we teach. Previous to the rap- 
pings, nearly all of the advocates who had learned the 
facts of spirit intercourse even through Mr. Davis, who 
did not join them, were quasi-Christians, and held to the 
Bible and Christ ; and they might have founded another 
Christian sect, into which I should never have entered as 
a member, after the open warfare commenced with the 
rappings, which the clergy and leading Christians were 



THE SPIRITUAL ROSTRUM. 29 

determined to put down, even though it could only be 
done by denouncing it as the work of the devil. With 
the rappings began the u irrepressible conflict/' in which, 
as in chattel slavery, the truth will ultimately prevail. 



30 FORTY YEARS ON 



CHAPTER III. 

"THE POWERS I HAVE WERE GIVEN ME TO MY v 
COST." 

" Stern alternation now follows, now flies ; 
As under pain, pleasure, under pleasure, pain lies." 

" Revere thyself, thou art so near allied 
To angels, on thy better side. 
How various e'er their ranks or kinds, 
Angels are but unbodied minds. 
When the partition walls decay, 
Men emerge angels from their clay. 
Yes, when the frailer body dies, 
The soul asserts her kindred skies. 

Know, then, who bow the early knee, 

And give the willing heart to me, 

Who wisely, when temptation waits, 

Elude her frauds and spurn her baits, 

Who dare to own my injured cause, 

Though fools deride my sacred laws, 

Or scorn to deviate to the wrong, 

Though persecution lifts her thong ; 

Though all the sons of hell conspire 

To raise the stake and light the Are, 

Know for such superior souls 

There lives a bliss beyond the poles, 

Where spirits shine with purer ray 

And brighten to meridian day ; 

Where love, where boundless friendship rules 

(No friends that change, no love that cools) j 

Where rising floods of knowledge roll 

And pour and pour upon the soul." 



THE SPIRITUAL KOSTRUM. 31 

Not much progress had been made in spirit intercourse 
through mesmerized subjects when the intercourse with 
the spirit world was opened on the 31st of March, in 
Hydesville, N.Y., in a family of Methodists, who were 
not aware that the house was what was termed u haunted " 
when they moved into it, and who for a time were greatly 
annoyed by the various noises that could not be accounted 
for from any known physical cause. So much has 
been said and written by the three Fox sisters and their 
friends, and by writers of the history (the sisters still 
living as I write, and good mediums) , that it is not neces- 
sary to say more about it here than what connects it with 
r my life and my labors in the cause, as I have known 
them all for many years, as I did their honest and faithful 
old mother in the earlier years, of my work. From my 
earliest story-reading and story-listening I had read and 
heard much about haunted houses, and knew full well 
that in most cases the causes of the disturbances were 
not in the reach of the most careful and scrutinizing and 
searching parties, and there always w r as a mystery about 
them unexplained, and could not be put out of the popu- 
lar mind by the ignorant ridicule that explained nothing, 
and never found the cause ; but as I then had no knowl- 
edge of spirits, or of spirit life, of course I could not 
account for them till this one case opened the door and 
let in the light that covered all of the phenomena of a 
mysterious nature. In my mind, as in many others, arose 
the question why these occurred in certain houses and 
places, and not in others, and until we found the cause, 
that remained as much a mystery and wonder to us as a 
rainbow or an eclipse was to the ancients before they 
found the law of causes. But at last this mystery was 
solved by the fact that instant and sudden deaths in 
fright and fear, as in murder, left an aura in the place 
that often for years enabled the spirit, or spirits, to visit 



32 FORTY YEARS OH 

J 
it on certain occasions, to make physical manifestations 1 ' 

of their presence by sounds and by moving ponderable 
articles. 

When our friends had opened correspondence with 
spirits in Hydesville and Rochester, and had learned that 
certain living bodies contained the necessary elements for 
producing the sounds, or " raps," that these sounds could 
be utilized as language, the key to a great mystery was 
found, a haunted house accounted for, and the ridicule 
and gossip of the unlearned and self-styled wise ones was 
turned back on them. Nothing in the time of phenomenal 
occurrences was better established as a fact, not even the 
mirage, than it was that certain houses were haunted, 
some of which even at this time are tenantless after being 
repeatedly rented and abandoned. It was and is equally 
well established that certain places where murders had 
been committed, and occasionally in graveyards, were 
sometimes seen, in peculiar conditions of the atmosphere, 
floating and fleeting phantom human forms ; and these 
still are occasionally seen, frightening the iguorant and 
superstitious who will not, or dare not, learn the cause 
that produces them, which is now known to be spiritual. 
For many years the learned, unable to explain, endeav- 
ored to suppress all belief in them by denying their 
occurrence ; but the constantly increasing honest and 
candid evidence thwarted all efforts to prove facts to be 
falsities, and owners of tenements found it impossible to 
find occupants for their houses when they had a reputa- 
tion of being haunted. A noted instance of haunted 
house was that in which Brigham Young died, in Salt 
Lake City. I was told as I viewed the stately mansion, 
completely furnished, that not one of his many wives 
could live in it because it was haunted, and as they did 
not believe he could be there in spirit, they supposed it 
was the devil, or some one from the infernal regions. 



THE SPIRITUAL ROSTRUM. 33 

How long this remained, or how long he haunted it, I do 
not know. Our discoveries of and in spirit life and inter- 
course enable us now to account for, explain, and to 
rationalize all such phenomena without any aid of super- 
naturalism, and without denying or setting aside the vast 
amount of honest testimony given in witness of weil- 
established facts. 

Witchcraft, which so long puzzled and troubled the 
world, and which led to much persecution and the cruel 
murders of hundreds of thousands of innocent persons, is 
now fully accounted for, as also is obsession and posses- 
sion of individuals by some outside influence ; conditions 
that before these discoveries were strange and mysterious, 
and frightened those who witnessed them. The Christian 
churches were the principal persecutors in all of these 
cases, pretending to know all about the spiritual world, 
about which they really knew nothing, and do not yet, 
except as a few members have investigated the spiritual 
phenomena. From the days of Augustine to the present, 
this has been the greatest obstacle to, and most bitter 
opponent of, any and all discoveries that explained the 
phenomena of nature, of life, death, and the results of 
death. The black cloud of mental and moral ignorance 
and superstition that caused the historical dark ages, was 
naught else than a cloud of Christian darkness at a time 
w r hen the Church explained all natural phenomena by a 
divine revelation, and prevented, as long as it could, any 
and all discoveries that tended to enlighten mankind ; and 
it occupies at this time the same position toward this hist 
and greatest discovery which enables us to meet our 
friends ajicl converse with them about their homes and 
condition in the life after death. It is not strange that 
they should be even more bitter in their opposition to this 
than to astronomy and geology, as this takes from them 
all power over the destiny of souls, and proves that they 



34 FORTY YEARS ON 

know but little about what they assume to know so much, 
and spend much time, talent, and money in darkening 
rather than enlightening their fellow-men. 

Our discoveries of spirit life and the power of our spirit 
friends to communicate, and to diagnose disease and pre- 
cribe for it through mesmerized subjects did not give us 
the key to unlock the mysteries of haunted houses and 
graveyard apparitions ; but the physical phenomena at 
Hydesville and Rochester did, and hence the appropriate 
celebration of the 31st of March as the day on which, in 
1848, the justly celebrated Fox girls began to converse, 
vely imperfectly, with the intelligence that haunted that 
house, which has gone into history. I and a few friends 
at large had no sooner heard of these phenomena, than we 
sought eagerly everything published about them, taking 
the side at once of the spiritual origin and wondering 
greatly at the tardiness and neglect of the subject or ap- 
parent ignoring of it by our spiritual paper, the Univer- 
ccelum. As this paper did not publish my letters except 
the one already copied, up to the end of the first volume, 
Ma}' 29, 1848, and had not given us what we wanted to 
know about the new and great excitement then at Roches- 
ter, and called in ridicule the " Rochester knockings," we 
began to suspect its managers of designing to make a new 
religious sect, founded on natural divine revelations, and 
step out as far in advance of Universalism as that sect 
was in advance of Calvinism. We soon, however, learned 
that neither Mr. Davis nor the spirits that controlled his 
mental organism could be drawn into it, and that Mr. 
Brittan and several others were ready for a general and 
universal progress, instead of founding a new church. 
Fernald, Fishbough, and Ambler soon left us ; but others 
took their places, and the work went on in a general and 
universal movement all along the line. To me it was ever 
evident that ultimately it would leave the old superstitions 



THE SPIRITUAL ROSTRUM. 35 

of the churches all out, and give us an entirely new sys- 
tem of belief and knowledge of the future. 

Up to 1850 the lack of a Spiritual press through 
which I could express my convictions of the truth of 
spirit life and intercourse, without pandering to Christian- 
ity or its Bible, induced me to send the following article 
to the Boston Investigator, which never had and never has 
refused my articles, however strongly'tinctured with Spir- 
itualism, which it does not advocate. 

" The Immortality of the Soul. 

"Mr. Editor: This is an interesting subject when 
written upon with candor and argued with reason ; but 
ridiculed egotism is neither interesting nor useful in this nor 
any other subject. I am glad to say it is less common in 
the Investigator than in most other papers. This subject 
seems to narrow down to a few important points : — 

"First: Is the soul of man material? If it is, it 
seems to me few will deny that it is immortal in some 
form or forms, as every philosopher's mind must grant all 
matter to be. If it is not material, it is nothing, and 
hence it is neither mortal nor immortal, and it seems a 
waste of words to talk about nothing. 

"Second: Is it a unit, or a combination of different 
material substances? If a unit, it is reasonable to sup- 
pose it may endure eternally, and not dissolve ; if a chemi- 
cal combination, it is reasonable to suppose it may dis- 
solve and decompose, and hence lose its identity, as we 
know our bodies do after death. 

" Third: Is it in human form, or in the form of our 
bodies, or has it an ambiguous form, as is taught by theol- 
ogy? In either case it will be likely, if composed of a 
simple substance and being a unit, to continue its form, 
for aught I can see, forever. 



36 FORTY YEARS ON 

" Fourth : Is the will and intelligence in man composed 
of or connected with the soul, or are they appurtenances of 
the body ? If the former, we may knowingly continue 
to exist ; if the latter, it is of little account what becomes 
of the soul, or whether there be any such or not. 

u I know this is filled with ifs, but there is little to be 
said in these days, without an ^/ , , except the positive 
assertion of some person, and that is not proof. Some 
will say these positions are all based on the assumption 
that man has a soul ; but this question is involved in the 
first query, and leaves those who deny in whole or in part 
with the large majority of Christians who teach the im- 
materiality of the soul. I have met with many of this 
kind of reasoners, and some of them logical ones ; but 
they all admit that there is & principle of life. Some call 
it the vital fluid, some a nervous fluid, some a magnetic 
medium, some one name, and some another ; but all 
admit that there is something or a nothing which keeps 
our bodies from decay during life, and by which this 
something moves the arm or leg, and moves other sub- 
stances by using the arm and hand, etc. 

" To me it seems absurd to say that nothing can per- 
form these feats, or that an immaterial principle which 
has power to raise the arm, and by the arm and hand to 
operate against attraction. To me it does not seem 
reasonable, even for infidels, to believe that man (and 
perhaps the brute) possesses a soul, and that it pervades 
every part of the body, and hence is in human form ; and 
that through and by this material medium the will, which 
is to the soul what the head is to the body, controls the 
motions and actions of the body ; and since we all know 
there is a mysterious principle about us and our existence, 
I cannot see why this may not be invisible and yet mate- 
rial, why it may not be composed of electricity or some 
other of the infinite variety of material substances — im- 



THE SPIRITUAL ROSTRUM. 37 

ponderable, refined, and yet eternal in its form of exist- 
ence; nor why that form may not be the human form as 
well as any other. To ask what life is, or what soul is, 
forms no argument. It matters little by what name we 
call it. It may be a substance for which we as yet have 
no name in chemistry or philosophy. One person may 
give it one name, and another some other name, as we 
already seem to do, while we do not differ more about its 
properties than its name. But is there life? Is there 
soul ? Has it properties ? Are they one or more ? Or is 
life a property or a manifestation of the soul, which can 
separate from the body? are the more important questions. 

" Nature, reason, and investigation will bring out and 
make plain the truth, in this science in due time, as in 
every other ; but men's minds are generally in a poor 
condition to reason in this age of superstitious folly. 
They are more engrossed with such unmeaning words as 
1 supernatural/ ' immaterial substance/ ' heaven/ 'hell/ etc. 
It is more difficult to determine whether the soul is com- 
posed of one or many materials, than it is to determine 
its existence and identity, separate from the body. If it 
is composed of a combination of materials, nature teaches 
us that the chemical affinities will not always last and 
hold the parts together, and hence it may be subject to 
other changes like the death of the body after its separa- 
tion from the body, but it may retain its form and identity 
after its separation from the body. 

" To treat these theories as visionary or fanciful crea- 
tions of the mind, is not to treat them with that candor 
and fairness which is to be expected from infidels. It 
seems to me to be about as much of a strain on natural 
powers to create a vision in the mind of man as for the 
minds of some to perceive and comprehend facta and 
existences which other minds do not. If the mind of man 
has power to create unreal scenes (which I doubt), and 



38 FORTY YEARS ON 

to dwell in them for a time, why not sustain them and 
dwell in them for ages ? The vision of a night's or a day's 
sickness may be prolonged for aught I know, when the 
body has a sounder sleep or a final one, and at least I 
must have more than the cry of humbug to convince me 
that immateriality, whether in vision or b}' vision, ever 
assumes forms or paints scenes on the brain, so as to exist 
in memory when they do not exist in fact. It is to me 
some evidence of a real existence, material of course, 
when the mind perceives a form. 

u In an infinite universe of materials of infinite variety 
of forms, I cannot conceive of one new form the mind of 
man can create, or that may not really exist ; as for mate- 
rials I should be very much narrowed in my ideas if I 
supposed man could take cognizance of all the matter that 
exists, or all of the materials of the universe of matter. 
To me it is at least an agreeable belief, that I possess 
naturally the power of mental perpetuity and individual 
identity. If I lose it, I shall never know my error ; and 
if it be a vision of the mind, I shall certainly try to con- 
tinue it after I have done with this life, which seems fully 
as much a vision." 

The above was signed by me, and dated Ceresco, Wis., 
Sept. 14, 1850. 

Up to the date of this letter I had seen very little of 
the physical manifestations and heard in only two or three 
instances of raps by spirits, but had repeated evidence of 
spirit life through communications and clairvoyance by 
mesmerized subjects, one instance of which nearly settled 
my mind and freed it from all doubts. While canvassing 
and speaking for the new political party, then called the 
Free Soil party, which by change of name became the 
Kepublican party in 1856, and of which I had called the 
first State Convention and presided over it in the town of 
Watertown, Wis., I stopped at the house of a friend who 



THE SPIRITUAL ROSTRUM. 39 

knew I had experimented in Mesmerism and advocated 
Spiritualism. While there he told me there was a school- 
teacher, a young lady, five or six miles from his house, 
with whom his family were acquainted, who had been mes- 
merized, and often saw strange visions ; that she some- 
times went under the influence herself. He said he would 
go and get her if I was desirous of seeing her, which, of 
course, I was, and it being Saturday, she could come. He 
went with horse and sleigh and brought her in the even- 
ing ; but as she did not come into the parlor, I asked for 
her, and I was told she had a severe headache and was 
not able to sit for us. I remarked that I often cured 
headache, and perhaps could relieve her. Thereupon I was 
invited into the room where she was, and introduced to 
her, an entire stranger, having never seen her before or 
since to my knowledge. Making a few passes over her 
head, she apparently fell asleep, and I seated myself to 
await results. Very soon she turned to me, apparently 
asleep, or with closed eyes, and said, "Two little boys 
are here and call you papa." I asked, " Is any one with 
them?" and she said, "Yes ; a young lady ; and they say 
auntie" My two little boys, as before stated, had passed 
out of this life, preceded by a sister of their mother. I 
asked for their names, and she said, "The largest one 
says Martin [which was his name]. The other I cannot 
clearly understand ; I took it to be Noys ; he shakes his 
head, but it sounds like Noys." I asked, " Is it Xorris?" 
and she at once said, "Yes; he confirms it." She then 
gave correctly the aunt's name, and they answered, as well 
as could be expected, my questions. The influence pas 
off ; her headache was gone ; she joined us in the parlor, 
and we spent a very interesting evening, with some gen- 
eral results confirming the fact that spirit life is a reality 
and within reach of our senses by proper and natural 
means. The facts stated bv her could not have been 



40 FORTY YEARS ON 

known to her, and I know they did not go from my mind 
to her, for they were not in my mind at the time. I only 
cite this as one of many cases by which I became con- 
vinced before the physical phenomena had been much wit- 
nessed by me. 

From 1847 to 1851 I had much to occupy my mind, as 
I had largely the settling of the affairs of the Phalanx, 
the cancelling of its stock, and dividing its surplus, and 
also had a large and leading interest in the affairs of the 
new political party, being its candidate for governor of 
Wisconsin at its first share in the elections ; but amidst 
all of this I found time to investigate the spiritual phe- 
nomena, and was able and willing to defend the facts I 
witnessed, with both tongue and pen, and often did so, 
giving lectures whenever I could find a place, and interest 
enough to*bring an audience. 

Among the early converts from the ranks of agnostics 
like myself was Apollos Munn of Springfield, Mass., who 
had his curiosity and intellect awakened, not by experi- 
ments, as I did, but by reading Mr. Davis' first book, 
and following up his interest by visiting the Fox family, 
and finally taking one (Margaretta) home with him, by 
and through whom he became fully convinced that the 
intelligence through the raps came from disembodied 
spirits, and that such beings did exist. Mr. Munn was 
an enthusiastic man ; and while wearing away with con- 
sumption, became deeply interested in the new discovery. 
About the time of his conversion (if it could be called 
such), his sister, Angeline Munn, became a medium, and 
for many years did a good and faithful work as a medium, 
till her physical system was exhausted ; and as I write 
these lines, January, 1886, she is still living, an aged and 
yet faithful worker in the cause, but too feeble to give 
more stances as a medium. Through her mediumship 
Dr. George Haskell of Rockford, 111., was convinced, and 



THE SPIRITUAL BOSTRUM. 41 

became a faithful and excellent worker in convincing 
others, spending most of his time and a handsome fortune 
in the cause, a part of which he spent in publishing a 
paper in Rockford, 111., and more in efforts to get up a 
school where spiritual truths and philosophy should have 
an equal chance with theology and physical science. He 
passed over to the other life from Ancora, N.J., where 
he made his last effort to found a school, with a very 
partial success for want of sufficient help and interest, 
which result he greatly deplored. For many years he did 
much to assist me in my work of explaining and extend- 
ing the truth of spirit intercourse. Many others can trace 
their satisfactory evidence to Angeline Munn, as I found 
her doing a good work in my first visit to Springfield, and 
patiently waiting, as I saw her in 1886, for, the messenger 
to take her over to a waiting husband and parents and 
brothers in the land she had so often described, and from 
which so many had come to her to be identified by their 
friends still lingering here. 

In the summer of 1850 Apollos Munn and R. P. 
Ambler started the Spirit Messenger, the first really spirit- 
ual paper wholly devoted to the work of making known the 
fact of an open intercourse between the two worlds. Mr. 
Ambler represented the religious side of the subject ; and 
Mr. Munn, the rational and natural side, which was the 
vital element of the paper. A. J. Davis was a constant 
and extensive contributor, and it contained much valuable 
matter from his pen. At the end of six months Mr. 
Munn was compelled to leave the work, as consumption, 
with its white hand, was already clipping the last threads 
that connected him with his body ; and soon after (in 
1851) he passed over to the other shore, when the paper 
fell wholly into the hands of a Christian Spiritualist, and 
soon died, as have all of that class of gapers, the elements 
of the two never harmonizing, as they never can coalesce 



42 FOBTY YEAKS ON 

nor be wedded to each other. R. P. Ambler tried for a 
time to sustain himself by lecturing ; but it was too hard 
and the pay too meagre for one who had been a clergy- 
man, and he slid back into his old society of Universalists, 
repented of his heresy, and ever since has been preaching 
for them, and as little known and of as little account in 
the great cause of reform as a farmer in the mountains 
of Pennsylvania. Several others have since followed his 
course, and backed into the liberal churches as preachers, 
or, like him, been lost or worthless to the great cause, but 
secured an easy living, and shutting out the new light of 
spirit intercourse, ceased to grow and ceased to give light 
to others. A diluted Christianity is worthless, and a 
diluted Spiritualism is little better than none, as years of 
experience have proved. 

In September, 1850, the following article from my pen 
appeared in the Spirit Messenger, which, like the others I 
have copied, shows the caution with which I advocated 
this new discovery and philosophy, and how strenuously I 
then tried, as I ever since have, to keep Spiritualism out 
of Christianity, and Christianity out of Spiritualism, hav- 
ing ever looked upon the dogmas of Christianity as the 
only poison Spiritualism was likely to take which would 
destroy its usefulness, if not its life. In this view many 
of its ablest defenders have agreed with me, among them 
Profs. Hare, William Denton, Henry C. Wright, Dr. Hal- 
lock, A. J. Davis, and Dr. H. F. Gardner. 

" Idolatry. 

" It will scarcely be denied by the candid and impartial 
observer of past and present religious history, that this is 
decidedly an age of idolatry. When we write for a civi- 
lized and Christianized condition of society, we need not 
allude to the worship of images of wood and stone, made 
in the forms of men or animals, of monsters or of ridicu- 



THE SPIRITUAL ROSTRUM. 43 

lous idols, for all will acknowledge that they who worship 
such images or supplicate them by prayers are idolaters. 
It is to another class of intelligent beings, nearer home, 
that I wish to call attention, and see if the charge can be 
made to bear against them. Is there not in our very midst, 
and comprising a large and respectable class of worthy 
and moral, as well as unworthy and immoral, citizens, 
many who have crucified reason — the true saviour — and, 
with a blind devotion, superstitious fear, and constrained 
belief in the Christian Bible, set up that as an image, to 
which they pa}' their devotions in the same manner as do 
the heathen to images of wood and stone, — make the lit- 
eral reading of the so-called sacred book the test b} T which 
the truth of every discovery in science must be tested, and 
reject every truth unfolded by God's true act, the book of 
nature, unless they can see it confirmed by the language 
in this image of perfection to them? It is true they are 
divided into sects, and can partially see the idolatry of 
each other in all except Bible worship, which contains all 
of their doctrines, and in devotion to that they are nearly 
all agreed. The Protestants can see the superstition and 
folly, if not the idolatry, of the Catholics in their worship 
of the cross and image of the VHoty Virgin,' of relics, 
etc. The early Methodists could see the blind folly and 
ignorant devotion of the Church of England to its written 
prayers and pompous ceremonies, its costly churches built 
by the forced labor and pilfered earnings of the suffering 
producers of all wealth, whose souls were of little value 
in the scheme of salvation. The Unitarians could see the 
folly of Trinitarians in the worship of a God born of a 
woman, and at the same time the creator of countless 
millions of worlds, which had been revolving in space foi 
countless ages before our world had existence as a planet ; 
and they could see that the teachings, being true, could call 
for no worship of the teacher. The Universalis^? could 



44 FORTY YEARS OST 

see the folly and absurdity of teaching the love of a God 
who held his children in submission by the fear of hell and 
never-ending torments for those who do not believe the 
absurd stories, while belief is involuntary. The Quakers 
could realize the error of those who were governed by the 
Word and outer signs, and neglected the promptings of the 
monitor within ; but all, with many other sects of wor- 
shippers, each rejecting some error of its neighbor, re- 
mained in blind devotion to the idol of the Christian, the 
infallible Bible. With them, reason must not criticise its 
sayings ; nature must not be allowed to introduce new 
truths, to conflict with any statements therein : if it did, 
nature is wrong. Geology must bind her stupendous 
truths and have them cramped into the Word, even 
though it destroy them and the science. Phrenology must 
be put down, for it conflicts with the Bible. Mesmerism, 
clairvoyance, Spiritualism, with all their light, must be 
crushed out by the law and religion, for they are infidelity, 
and will surely destroy the worship of the Book if allowed 
to spread, even though they teach truths which, if adopted 
or lived, would bring about a higher and better life than 
any truths revealed since the Nazarene taught the poor 
fishermen in the open air among the hills and along high- 
ways, when he struggled with poverty, unheard, except 
by a few mendicants, on the burning sands and frostj* 
hills of his rude and rocky country, scarcely known and 
little heard of for hundreds of years after he lived, if he 
lived at all. 

" That the Bible contains some truths none will deny ; 
that it teaches some good lessons none will deny ; but so 
does the Koran, so does the Zend Avesta : yet this does 
not teach either of them worthy in their entire contents 
the conscience of the human mind. If any one supposes 
all truth is contained in the Bible, it is a childish error, 
unworthy a progressive mind. If it does not, how can it 



THE SPIRITUAL ROSTRUM. 45 

be worthy the devotion of mankind ? Truth is worthy of 
our confidence and adoration, but a truth is no better in 
the Bible than in a novel or an almanac. If we examine 
closely, we shall find very few truths in the Bible of im- 
portance to man's happiness in this life or the next, 
and they ma} 7 be found elsewhere, and its historic state- 
ments are not to any great extent reliable, being mixed 
with fables and unacceptable marvels. All churches, 
however wide apart in creeds and doctrines, have the 
same sacred and holy Bible, filled with the errors of all 
the creeds, as each can see them in its neighbors. 
Reason must not criticise nature, and reason must not 
conflict with its infallible words. The truth is, the Bible 
is the idol of all Christian sects, or rather their earthly 
idol ; and there can be little progress in a human mind 
till this idol is given up to reason and criticism, and tried 
for its truths by reason and science and history, and 
these will utterly ruin its claim to authenticity. It is a 
truth none can deny, that the fear of hell has made more 
converts to Christianity than the love of God or the early 
beauty of Christian teachings. Most have not been led 
by love, but driven by fear, to a doctrine, to the book, 
and the churches. When the time shall come, as it 
surely will, that every intelligent and honest person 
will abandon the worship of idols of all kinds, and be 
governed by reason, then will all truth be collected and 
arranged to compose a guide for human actions, bring 
happiness to mankind, and destroy sectarianism. The 
blind idolatry of this age has a stronger hold on the 
human heart than most people are aware of, but it is 
beginning to weaken. The rope of sand will soon break 
asunder; the penetrating light and heat of science and 
true revelations shall penetrate it and crumble it to pieces. 
When the crucified saviour Reason shall rise again, it will 
lead the nations from their idols of wood, or stone, or 



46 FOKTY YEAKS ON" 

priest, or heaven-pointing spire, or Bible book of huge 
proportions occupying some conspicuous place in the 
Christian church or Christian family. W. C. 

" Ceresco, Wis., Sept. 2, 1850." 

In the first number of the Spirit Messenger, Editor 
Munn, who found in "Nature's Divine Revelations" what 
I did, says of the book : " It needs only to be read consec- 
utively, carefully, and analytically, to carry to the mind 
irresistibly the conviction of its perfect philosophy and 
intrinsic truth. It may be denounced, but its arguments 
can never be refuted. Its facts and its philosophy, 
appealing directly to reason and the superior faculties of 
the soul for credence, have obtained a firm foundation in 
the very heart of humanity, thus furnishing an impreg- 
nable fortress for the faith that is in us, against whose 
imperishable walls of truth, error will dash itself only to 
fall mutilated and powerless to earth." Editor Ambler 
says in the same number: "The beautiful sentiment 
standing at the head of our columns will be at once 
recognized as forming the leading sentence in the preface 
of that stupenduous work, ' Nature's Divine Revela- 
tions.' It is, ' Brethren, fear not, for error is mortal 
and cannot live, and truth is immortal and cannot die ! ' " 
In this paper William Fernald is advertised to lecture on 
the Harmonial Philosophy ; but when through the rap- 
pings and tippings and other rude forms and modes of 
manifestation the spirit world sent its messages to " pub- 
licans and sinners," he soon turned back to the "flesh 
pots" of the New Jerusalem Church, as Ambler did 
later to those of the Universalist Church. H. D. Bar- 
ron, still an able and faithful defender of the truth, and 
who, with E. II . Capron, published the second truthful 
pamphlet record of the spirit rappings at Hydesville, is 



THE SPIRITUAL ROSTRUM. 47 

mentioned as an agent of the Messenger. John H. W. 
Toohey, who did a good work tardily and is still with us, 
but greatly slackened in that element, which was always 
too slack, is also mentioned as an agent. My old and 
highly esteemed friend, and publisher of several of my 
works, Bela Marsh, then on earth and on Cornhill, Bos- 
ton, is mentioned as an agent. I see in the Messenger a 
communication from Dr. Webster and Dr. Parkman, the 
two celebrated murdered men in Boston, — one murdered 
by law, and the other without it, — through the elder of the 
Fox sisters, in which they announce themselves as recon- 
ciled. In the issue of November 2 is a notice of spirit- 
ual messages through the raps in Athol, Mass. Also 
a notice that in seven or eight places in Providence, 
R.I., the spirits were communicating to mortals. Another 
earnest and faithful worker, long since gone, T. S. 
Sheldon of Randolph, N.Y., is registered in the Mes- 
senger. 

In these early years of spirit intercourse, and for fifteen 
or twenty years of my first public advocacy, it was all a 
person's reputation and almost all a person's life was 
worth to publicly defend it. As the other world was dis- 
covered to be a veritable fact instead of a fiction, as it was 
in the hundred thousand temples of our country, dedicated 
to the unknown gods, and was putting knowledge into the 
possession of the people in place of the blind faith and 
hope which were taught in these temples by the seventy 
thousand ordained clergymen, who obtained their salaries 
by keeping up a belief without knowledge in their varied 
and various theories, no two of which were alike, and in 
presenting pictures of heaven, hell, god, and devil ; and 
as they knew this knowledge would finally supersede 
all of their theories, of course it aroused all of the bitter- 
ness and malignity in their natures, and many ol' them 
were not lacking in this quality of mentality. I had 



48 FOKTY YEAES ON 

abandoned a most flattering political prospect, neglected 
all financial pursuits, and was giving my time and talents 
to this new discovery, which seemed to me to be of the 
greatest value to our race. This I did because it seemed 
destined to remove the necessity of supporting the enor- 
mous expense of the churches, by substituting a knowl- 
edge of another life beyond the veil of death, and to prove 
that the churches had saved no souls, had never taught 
any correct theory of another life, or even proved there 
was any soul or life after death, and now seemed unwilling 
we should. Among the meanest and most rabid of these 
clerical opponents who took it upon himself to silence 
me was a Rev. Henry Drew, of whom a bad report fol- 
lowed from the East. He came to Ceresco and found a 
few Methodists and more enemies of Spiritualism, and 
began his lying and scandalous abuse of me and kept it 
up with tongue and pen for years, greatly to the annoy- 
ance of my family and friends. Covered with his cloak 
of religion and clerical title, he was able to find plenty of 
opportunities to work his social mischief and feed his 
corrupt mind on the popular prejudice against all who took 
part in defending the new truth. He had the advantage 
of me, as I was much of the time away from home, 
while he was working up his lies about my actions during 
my absence ; but I proposed a discussion with him in his 
own church, to which he consented provided I would take 
the Bible to defend it, which I did successfully, as the 
audience plainly recognized. On one occasion when in a 
sermon he was telling some falsehood about me, my son, 
being in the meeting, spoke out and said, " That is a lie, 
sir," to which he made no reply, as he had told plenty 
before. He tried hard to make people believe I was 
socially and morally what he was himself, and it took me 
many years of toil and trial and trouble to outlive his 
lies, which would not have found believers had I not been 



THE SPIRITUAL ROSTRUM. 49 

advocating the unpopular teachings of Spiritualism. I 
only allude to this one of many enemies because he at- 
tacked me at my home, while in many places where I went 
to lecture, letters were sent before me by unknown par- 
ties, warning the people against me as an outrageous 
infidel and social renegade, who had left his family to 
suffer, when no family was more devoted to a husband 
and father, and no husband and father more faithful in 
providing than I was, as they always have borne testi- 
mony. During all these trials nothing but an indomitable 
firmness and consciousness of the valuable truth I had in 
my possession could keep me in the field ; while no scan- 
dal or persecution could drive me out, and no political 
allurement draw me from it, for both forces were about 
me, and the lies and scandal of the preachers would have 
been no obstacle to my success politically if I would have 
given up to it and abandoned my public defence of spirit 
intercourse. Neither in that early time of trials and 
mental suffering, not always exempt from physical, nor 
in later years, when political promotion was open to me, 
did I for a moment give up my devotion to this cause or 
neglect it for any work that would prevent my public 
defence of spirit life. 

During these early years of my itineracy I went over 
much of the settled portion of Wisconsin, of Northern 
Illinois, and into St. Louis, having good meetings in the 
latter city, by the aid of A. Miltenberger, John Mellen, 
Mr. Hedges, Mr. Freleigh, and Dr..Britt and Mrs. Britt 
(since Mrs. Spence), who has been one of our ablest 
speakers for many years, and done much for the cause. 
Thomas Gales Forster I also found early in the field at 
St. Louis. He was one of our best trance-speakers, and 
did a noble work for many years, until his health forced 
him to retire from the rostrum. In Chicago I found D. 
A. Eddy and a very few others, and there I hired a hall 



50 , FORTY YEARS ON 

and gave a course of lectures. Being very poorly paid 
everywhere, I felt severely the deficit of $12 in the receipts 
to cover expenses, but remarked to my friends that it 
would come back in time ; and surely it did, when a 
crowded audience in the largest hall in the city paid me 
$25 a lecture through the week ; and to some less con- 
spicuous extent the same was true in many other places. 
In my early visits to New York City I found T. L. and 
Mary Gove Nichols, Stephen Pearl Andrews, Dr. Hallock, 
Dr. Gray, Judge Edmonds, Dr. Dexter, and a few others, 
but not acting in harmony, as the Nicholses and Andrews 
had some unpopular socialisms ; yet all admitted that 
spirits had opened intercourse with this world, and that 
was my theme. The Nicholses and Josiah Warren had 
started a colony for their social views at Modern Times, 
L.I., and were anticipating great results from their extreme 
social radicalism ; but the popular prejudice was too 
strong, and it had to be abandoned. It was at this 
settlement I first met our champion writer and speaker, 
Emma Hardinge (now Britten), and before she had 
taken the pen or the rostrum in defence of our cause. 
She was a remarkable medium, but I never knew that 
she sympathized with the settlement at Modern Times. 
I had then been several years on the rostrum, and had 
then, as I have at this writing, January, 1886, given more 
lectures in small places on the subject than any one else, 
and up to this date have never failed to meet an appoint- 
ment from sickness or personal cause, and only a few 
times been snowed in so I could not reach the place. 
Very few persons have done more for our cause with the 
pen, and not many with the tongue, than Emma Hardinge 
Britten ; but in her history of Spiritualism iu Europe and 
America she has shown the failing so common to mortals 
of personal likes and dislikes, and probably had me in 
the dislikes, Not from my early acquaintance with her, 



THE SPIRITUAL ROSTRUM. 51 

but probably because I defended Victoria C. Woodhull, as 
I would any man or woman that the churches tried to put 
down. As I had never had any domestic troubles, I felt 
able as well as willing, in this and every case, to sustain, 
so far as I justly could, every victim of social tyranny, 
and every one who tried to reform society by exposing 
its corruption in high places, and this I considered the 
work of Mrs. Woodhull. And when the fight came with 
the churches and popular corruption, I defended her ; and 
as Emma wrote largely for the Christian Spiritualists, it 
would not do to give credit to an infidel Spiritualist, how- 
ever much he might have done ; and especially one that 
defended the persecuted socialists, even if he did not 
indorse their theories to the extent the}' proclaimed them. 
She could not have failed to know I had been the first to 
take the rostrum in defence of spirit intercourse, and 
that from the first publication of a paper in its defence my 
pen had been writing for it, as it has in some published 
article nearly every week since, and that I had been sev- 
eral years an editor as well as speaker. But it does not 
hurt me to be left, and only hurts the party by leaving 
out items of value in a history. 



52 FORTY YEARS ON 



CHAPTER IV. 

" Beware of desperate steps. The darkest day 
(Live till to-morrow) will have passed away." 

" Season's whole pleasure, all the joys of sense, 
Lie in three words — health, peace, and competence ; r 
But health consists with temperance alone. 
And peace, O virtue ! Peace is all thy own." 

" Deeper than all sense of seeing 
Lies the secret source of being, 
And the soul with truth agreeing, 

Learns to live in thoughts and deeds ; 
For the life is more than raiment, 
And the earth is pledged for payment, 

Unto man for all his needs." 

It is doubtful whether any person not schooled in ad- 
versity and suffering, as I had been, and as related in my 
autobiography, "The Life Line," would, or could, have 
withstood the oppositions met with in the early years of 
public defence of our glorious gospel of good news to all 
people in all ranks and grades of life, and which the 
churches so bitterly opposed because it came to all people 
and could not be controlled by the priests. The buffet- 
ings of Satan were as nothing to the bufferings of the 
churches, backed by all the scandalous gossipers who 
are ever ready to aid them in their efforts to put down and 
out any new discovery that will deprive them of any part 
of their control over the people. I seemed to have been 
designed for my work, or consecrated to it b}' my intro- 
duction into this life, or by the death of my mother and 
her work as a spirit, for I was early and ever in the 



ON THE SPIRITUAL ROSTRUM. 53 

advance guard in all public reform measures ; ever 
opposed to war as a barbarism unworthy of, and a dis- 
grace to, any enlightened nation, as there could be no 
civilized nation with a military power ; ever opposed to 
capital punishment as utterly barbaric and only worthy of 
a religion that advocated an endless hell as a part of its 
14 plan of salvation " ; ever opposed to the administering 
of oaths, as a piece of nonsense with no sacred obligation 
in it. I have ever been in favor of perfect equality of 
the sexes in and out of marriage ; and long before Mrs. 
Stanton or Miss Anthony began their good work I had 
borne the sobriquet of " The Ladies' Advocate," because 
I advocated female suffrage and other rights for the sex. 
I was ever opposed to land monopoly, and among the 
early advocates of land limitation with titles confined to 
occupancy. I was ever opposed to chartered banks and 
laws regulating money, and in favor of the most rigid re- 
strictions in all chartered corporations, to prevent monop- 
oly ; ever in favor of having the government make all of 
the currency, and supplying an amount for the business, 
so that people could pay as they purchase, and prevent 
the excessive usury and Shylock robbery ; ever in favor 
of taxing church property the same as the property of 
other corporations and individuals ; ever opposed to all 
laws for the collection of debt and imprisonment for debt ; 
ever opposed to the employment of chaplains in Congress, 
in legislatures, and in the army and navy ; ever in favor 
of temperance and every measure calculated to prevent 
dissipation, and opposing all license laws as wrong in 
principle, and advocating the prohibition by law of the 
importation of intoxicating liquors and the suppression of 
distilleries by the national government. In many other 
lesser reforms my tongue and pen have been active for 
the forty years of this public pilgrimage, among them an 
unswerving opposition to tobacco in all its forms, as one 



54 FORTY YEARS ON 

of the greatest curses that encumber our social life. 
Standing out on all of these reforms, mostly in opposition 
to the churches, and then publicly defending the spiritual 
phenomena and the mediums, made me a target for many 
shafts. 

Among those who volunteered and enlisted in this 
cause during the first five years of its existence as dis- 
tinctive Spiritualism, and who may be said to have 
answered the first call for volunteers, and who, as I write 
this in January, 1886, just after passing my seventy- 
third annual mile-stone, are still living on this stratum of 
earth with me, as I now recall them, is John M. Spear, 
the prisoners' friend, as he was called when I first found 
him in Boston. A medium and a more faithful and 
devoted servant of the spirit world has not been found 
in our ranks. He held on to this life at that date (he has 
since passed over), but had passed his working days, 
which were taken up by his faithful wife. Mr. and Mrs. 
A. E. Newton I also found at the same time, and two 
more honest, conscientious, and indefatigable workers we 
have never had with us. C. L. Sholes, who was with me 
in the Wisconsin State Senate in 1848-49, was with me 
in defence of this cause with his able pen, as early as it 
was a cause, and he still holds on to it and to life in Mil- 
waukee, "Wis. Joel Tiffany, than whom the cause had 
no abler public advocate for ten years or more, is to-day 
still bound for the same haven, but has taken passage on 
a legal boat. Jeremiah Hacker, former editor and pub- 
lisher of the Portland Pleasure Boat and Chariot of 
Love, all his life a reformer and good worker in the 
reforms, is still lingering, now in his ninetieth year, and is 
now in New Jersey raising sweet potatoes and writing 
poetry, but too deaf to hear the angels whisper, and has 
some doubts about a real future life. Dr. Dillingham, of 
Boston, is well known to the old pioneers, and still lives. 



THE SPIRITUAL ROSTRUM. 55 

R. P. Ambler and T. L. Harris, they, with many others, 
backed out and into the Christian army when the shots 
came too hot and heavy from the pulpits ; but both have 
lived to see their errors, I think, though they may not 
acknowledge it. A. Miltenberger, of St. Louis, and 
Mrs. Spence are still with me, and have lived to see, as 
I have, their highest anticipations realized in the cause. 
John S. Adams and his wife Hattie — she an early and 
excellent medium — are still in the good work on our side 
of the death line. Parker Pillsbury, who in the anti- 
slavery controversy had found the Christian church on 
the wrong side, found it the same on this subject, and is 
still defending truth and justice on the rostrum. Cora 
L. V. Scott, now Mrs. Richmond, came in among the 
early mediums when quite young, and through her 
mediumship brought her parents and many others into 
the ranks. She is still one of the best speakers and 
mediums we have, and has done as much as any one in 
her work to advance the cause. The three Fox sisters, 
Leah, Maggie, and Kate, are all with us yet, and as 
faithful and good as ever. Of course I need not say 
they were the first to open, through a haunted house, the 
intercourse with spirits that haunted it, and thereby 
opened a more general intercourse. Rachel Lukens, now 
Mrs. Chase, — daughter of the late David Lukens of 
Morrisville, Pa., — near Trenton, N.J., and one of the 
early defenders of spirit intercourse, is still efficiently 
engaged in linking the two worlds together, after many 
years of faithful service as a medium, in which work she 
began about the same time the Fox family did. Anna 
M. L. Potts, M.D., at present a very popular lecturer on 
physiology, hygiene, and kindred subjects, was also with 
Miss Lukens, an early believer, but her popularity in 
other fields of public service has prevented her from sav- 
ing much about it. Dr. H. T. Child, of Philadelphia, 



56 FOBTY YEARS ON 

came in very early, and is still advocating it in the meet- 
ing of the Society of Friends, to which he returned to 
escape the entanglements of Spiritualists and their dis- 
cords. His old friend, H. B. Diott, for many years a 
faithful worker in the cause, partially fell from grace in 
later years, or became spiritually paralyzed ; while Mr. 
Wren, another of the Philadelphia pioneers, lingers, 
leaning toward agnosticism. Dr. John May hew came 
early into the cause and did faithful service many 
years, and does 3-et, in his private way, connected with 
his office in Washington, D.C. 

There are many more still living here who joined us in 
the first campaign during the first five years of my public 
work, and who were and still are known to me, but whom 
I cannot register, as I only intended to name a few of 
those well known to the public by their public labors ; but 
I should be glad to have justice done to all such noble 
and faithful workers as dared to face the host of enemies 
in those trying times. Many who came in later, and 
have won a well-deserved fame in the cause, did not have 
to endure the trials and hardships of these early pioneers 
whose names should be preserved in the true history of 
Spiritualism. 

I must add a few from the list of pioneers who have 
gone up higher, yet are still in the good work as earnestly 
as ever. Of these I speak in each case from my personal 
knowledge, so far as their belief and interest is concerned, 
but leave their public records to other history and friends. 
Among those best known to the public are President 
Abraham Lincoln, Vice-President Henry Wilson, Senator 
B. F. Wade, Senator Howard of Michigan, Ex-Senator 
and Ex-Governor Tallmadge of Wisconsin, Hon. Gerrit 
Smith, Hon. Joshua R. Giddings, William Lloyd Garri- 
son, Judge Edmonds, Judge and Colonel Charles H. 
Larrabee, who was burned to death in a palace car on 



THE SPIRITUAL BOSTRTJM. 57 

the California Southern Pacific Railroad, Dr. R. T. Hal- 
lock, and Dr. Gray of New York. Dr. Hallock was one of 
our ablest speakers. Dr. H. F. Gardner and Rufus Elmer 
of Springfield, Mass., Drs. Samuel and Abel Underhill of 
Ohio, both among our first workers and never flinching 
before any foe. Professor Hare and Professor Mapes 
were not personally known to me. Lydia Dennett of 
Portland, a very intelligent old lady, who for years fur- 
nished a home for reformers, as A. J. Davis, Parker 
Pillsbury, and myself can testify, deserves notice as 
having done a good work for the cause. Judge Law- 
rence of Ann Arbor, Mich., was early and faithful in the 
cause. Judge Boardman of Illinois did early and faith- 
ful service in Waukegan, whereof J. C. Smith, now of 
Washington, D.C., early became an open advocate, and 
is yet. Seldon J. Finney, an early medium and eloquent 
speaker, who started in Ohio and died in California. Dr. 
O. H. Wellington of New York, a very early advocate. 
Mrs. Semantha Mettler, first of Buffalo, N.Y., and later 
of Hartford, Conn., deserves more than a passing notice 
in a history of Spiritualism, as few among those of us who 
have "blown our own horns" have done more real good 
and successful work than she did. Mr. Alvin Adams, 
founder of the Adams Express Company, who earl}' 
provided myself and others a home of elegance and refine- 
ment, through her obtained much valuable information 
relating to both worlds and fully appreciated it. A Mrs. 
Spaulding of Waukegan, 111., was one of our earliest 
mediums, the first one reported as having writing come 
out on the arm, and the first one I saw before Charles H. 
Foster had that phase of wonderful mediumship, and in 
which he wore out his life and did much to convince the 
world of the truth of our cause. The father and mother 
and other relations of Cora L. V. Scott came early into 
the work, and never deserted it. There was a Mrs. 



58 FOKTY YEAES ON 

French of Pittsburgh and St. Louis, and last of New 
York City, who did a good work, and was for some years 
a sort of patron saint of Emma Hardinge, but seems to 
have been left out in the cold in all notices except this. 
Fanny Burbank Felton came out early through Mrs. Met- 
ier, and was many years a faithful worker and a good 
one. Fanny C. Allyn, still on the rostrum, was early in 
the field, and has left many subjects for thought among 
her listeners in her wide and long course of lecturing. 
An Ex-Eeverend Averill of Battle Creek, Mich., came 
early in and worked faithfully till he went over. He. 
helped out A. B. Whiting, a brilliant speaker, and also 
Dr. Slade and Mrs. Emma Tuttle and Emma Jay (since 
Bullene), and a faithful and good public worker. In 
Michigan and Wisconsin the cause started early and had 
many advocates in the first campaign. Francis Barry of 
Philadelphia deserves much more than I can say for his 
good work ; and Lucretia Mott, a faithful friend of Mrs. 
Chase, then Rachel Lukens, and now a glorious spirit, 
glorious for the good work she did here. Mrs. Hattie 
Huntley of Paper Mill Village, N. H., a good medium 
and speaker, stepped out boldly to the work, and was 
soon stricken down by heart disease and passed over, 
and is nearly forgotten, but should not be. 

Among those who volunteered, in the last half of the 
first decade of Spiritualism, were many noble workers who 
have gone over to the other life, and many who are still 
with us in the work. Our grand and noble sister, Achsa 
W. Sprague, whose brilliant career was short, Mrs. M. G. 
Townsend Wood, still in the field, Dr. Wellington, Dr. 
Buchanan, Dr. Dutton, Dr. E. A. Smith and his noble 
wife, Fanny Davis Smith, — all active workers yet, — with 
many I cannot name, equally entitled to be remembered. 
Emma Hardinge Britten is perhaps as extensively known 
as any one, through her pen and lectures in this country 



THE SPIRITUAL ROSTRUM. 59 

and England. Dr. Slade came into this class. Dr. J. V. 
Mansfield entered on his glorious public world-wide work, 
and Dr. H. B. Storer, who deserves a heaven if anyone does, 
and scores whose names are not recorded, and who are for- 
gotten at this early date except by a few relatives, and soon 
will be by them ; even their graves will be forgotten, and 
the good service they rendered in this cause only remem- 
bered by themselves or in the spirit world. Visiting Louis- 
ville, Ky., in 1886, I found traces of a good work left 
there in some minds by one of our ablest but short-lived 
mediums and speakers, Mr. A. B. Whiting, who was even 
then almost forgotten in his native State of Michigan, where 
he attained his mediumship, which was remarkable and of 
a highly intellectual order. In that same year I found in 
Connecticut many precious recollections of the eloquent 
discourses of Mrs. Charlotte Tuttle, another of Michigan's 
early mediums, who lost her life by her over-exertions in 
our cause, and left her body at Winsted, Conn. At this 
time of writing, still another of Michigan's good workers 
is in the form, — Emma J. Bullene, who was known to 
me when a child, and for many years was a faithful wife 
and mother, as well as lecturer in our field. I cannot here 
recall and record more than one in ten of those I knew in 
these early years of my labor ; but their names and labors 
are still sacred to me, as far as I can recall them. In the 
fall of 1886 I lectured in one of the meeting-houses in 
Somersville, Conn., built by and presented to the society 
of that place by our elder, Brother Hall, with several thou- 
sand dollars to support it, — a worthy example for others 
more able than he was. 

Among the comets that have blazed through the horizou 
of Spiritualism with a brilliant, fiery trail and moved on 
into space, Mrs. Victoria C. Woodhull was the most con- 
spicuous on record, and Thomas L. Harris the next. La- 
roy Sunderland was, no doubt, the third. Then came 



60 FORTY YEARS ON 

lesser and more transient visitors, — T. L. and Mary Gove 
Nichols, Charley Hayden, F. L. Wadsworth, W. F. Jamie- 
son, who did a noble work and is not doing badly now, 
but has drifted into the shades of agnosticism, and does 
not give any spiritual light. Cephas B. Lynn and Brother 
Houghton seem to have been small comets or meteors, as 
their light has gone out with Brother Ambler's. J. M. 
Peebles also proved to be a blazing religious comet in our 
horizon, but left a permanent light in some valuable 
books. Capt. H. H. Brown shone brightly, but ran under a 
Unitarian banner for protection from the scorching sun of 
persecution, that dried up the financial fountain too much 
for his support. Thomas R. Hazard did a noble work in 
the cause with his tongue and pen, and never relaxed till 
he passed, an octogenarian, to the higher life, following 
the scores of my old friends and co-laborers whose names 
even I cannot now recall to record here ; and, as I cannot 
do justice to them, I may as well pass on to my personal 
narrative of an active and closing life on earth, but not 
till I name Henry C. Wright and Jesse B. Ferguson, 
brilliant fellow-laborers, and from whom I often get mes- 
sages that encourage and strengthen me in my work ; and 
I should mention here that the first work published ex- 
plaining the rappings in Hydesville was issued by E. E. 
Lewis of Canandaigua, N.Y., in 1848 ; and the next by 
Capron and Barron, which had a large and rapid sale. 
Dr. O. H. Wellington and Charles Partridge introduced 
the rappings and the Fox girls in New York City, and 
John S. Adams and his wife Hattie got up the first lec- 
tures in Boston, assisted by Dr. A. B. Child ; and also for 
me the first in Chelsea, Mass. 

During the first ten years of my labors in this field and 
on the rostrum, closing with 1857, the items and incidents 
of importance are recorded in my autobiography, " The Life 
Line," and need not be repeated here, as every reader of 



THE SPIRITUAL ROSTRUM 61 

this book ought to read that, and read it first. Those who 
can get files of the first papers devoted to our cause, and 
copies of the first books, will find much in them that I 
could not record here from memory, or copy if I had 
them ; but I regret that there has been no library kept by 
any one in which these early records have been preserved, 
as they should have been sacredly, and the names of the 
early members and many martyrs sacredly recorded ; but 
they have gone over with our blessings, and been received 
on the other side as martyrs for the glorious gospel of 
good news to all men and women on earth, and their 
works do follow them for their reward. Only a very few 
of the early pioneers who took an active part in the first 
decade of this cause are with us yet in earth life, but 
among them are Capron and Barron, the early publishers, 
whose works antedate any newspaper devoted to it, but 
not the articles in the New York Tribune, then owned by 
Horace Greeley, but which now, under Whitelaw Reid, has 
degenerated into a tool and servant of the most oppressive 
aristocracy and tyranny. During those early years of my 
labors in the cause, no tongue can now tell and no pen 
can now write the terrible ordeal of persecution through 
which I passed socially, from the scandalous falsehoods 
circulated about me, and often taken up and extended by 
prejudiced Spiritualists who had some personal end to 
accomplish ; but b} 7 the aid of my spirit friends I contin- 
ued on my course and in my work, always assured b\- 
them that I should outlive it all, and rise to the plane of 
life I have now reached. 

Among the best and noblest early workers in spreading 
the new gospel, and one who lived up to its highest and 
purest teaching, was William White, who came in early 
to the support of Brother Luther Colby, with financial aid 
to the support of the Banner of Light, which must have 
gone under in the pressure without his aid, as Brother 



62 POKTY YEARS ON 

Colby could not support it without financial aid ; and no 
•person could better appreciate the assistance rendered 
by this good man than did Brother Colby at this time, 
and until his sudden departure to the higher life in April, 
1873, of which event the following brief note informed 
me : — 

" Boston, April 28, 1873. — Brother Chase: We are 
in the midst of sorrow. Brother White is dead — gone 
home to live with the angels. He died suddenly in a 
horse-car to-day. ' In the midst of life we are in death.' 
Yours truly, Luther Colby." 

No one out of the office and the home circle felt this 
loss among our able and faithful workers more than I 
did, for we all loved the one so suddenly taken from us. 
In the autumn of 1887 Dr. Abel Underhill and John M. 
Spear, two octogenarians and early workers, left us and 
followed the many who had preceded them to the better 
life, soon after followed by our venerable and universally 
esteemed Allen Putnam of Boston, whose works will 
long remain to testify to his faithful labors in our cause. 
His years neared the close of eighty-six, as he passed on 
in the fall of 1887, preceded by his last wife, long a faith- 
ful medium, once Fanny Remick. Each of these aged 
workers passed gloriously through the gate of death, as 
the friends testify who were present at the change. Just 
now, as I write this, at the close of November, 1887, the 
earth is fresh and new over the body of John Tarbox of 
Worcester, an octogenarian, and one of the earliest and 
most faithful devotees of our cause to the last. A large 
family had preceded him to spirit life, where he joined 
them a few days ago, passing out of this life by cancer. 
I often wish I had kept a record of the many prominent 
workers who took part with us, and also a record of what 
changes took place in their lives. It would show many 
martyrs among the mediums who deserve the crowns they 



THE SPIRITUAL ROSTEUM. 63 

wear in the other life. Seth Hale and wife, now in 
Worcester as I write, aged and able, intelligent and faith- 
ful to the knowledge they have, are doing what they can, 
as are many others here and in many other places. Early 
in December, 1887, Horace M. Richards, an aged and 
faithful worker in New York, passed on ; and at his 
funeral reported his safe arrival in spirit life, as many 
others have since this mediumistic door has been left ajar. 



64 FORTY YEARS ON 



CHAPTER V. 

THE POLITICIAN. 

" It is indeed an easy task 
To hide behind some pleasing mask, 
And mingling with the swelling crowd, 
Shout what they shout both long and loud." 

" They are slaves who fear to speak 
For the fallen and the weak ; 
They are slaves who dare not be 
In the right with two or three." 

1 ' The times demand new measures and new men. 
The world advances, and in time outgrows 
The laws that in our fathers' days were best. 
The time is ripe, and rotten-ripe for change. 
Then let it come ; I have no dread of what 
Is called for by the instinct of mankind, 
Nor think I that God's world will fall apart 
Because we tear a parchment more or less. 
Truth is. eternal, but her effluence 
With endless change is fitted to the hour; 
Her mirror is turned forward to reflect 
The promise of the future, not the past ; 
For men in earnest have no time to waste 
In patching fig-leaves for the naked truth." 

After the long and weary years of toil and struggling 
with poverty, as related in " The Life Line," at the age of 
thirty-three a new line of life began to open before me. I 
was then in the Wisconsin Phalanx, trying the Fourier sys- 
tem of social life, which did not prove to be adapted to the 
American people at that nor at this time, for reasons I 
shall not present here. In that year I learned that I was, 
and had been for fourteen years, poisoning my system with 



THE SPIRITUAL ROSTRUM. 65 

tobacco, and I left it forever, and its use has never been 
acquired by any of ray descendants to this time of writ- 
ing. In this year, 1846, I was elected bj T the county of 
Fond du Lac, Wis., to a constitutional convention, as 
before stated. I was politically sound as a Democrat. I 
had written articles on land reform, partially advocating 
what Henry George has so ably set forth in his late works, 
and there had some of them been translated into German, 
and published in a paper in that language in the eastern 
end of our county. This gave me the extra votes 
that elected me ; it was my radicalism that elected 
instead of defeating me. I went into that convention 
(which gave me place as one of the fathers of the State 
in later years) a novice in legislative political life, but 
with a capacity for public speaking somewhat developed 
by publicly advocating the rights of colored persons and 
women as equal before the law in States where slavery did 
not exist and was not protected by the Constitution, and 
by working up the social question to a point where we 
began our experiment, as also b} x academic declamations 
and lyceum discussions. In that turbulent convention, 
whose work was too radical for the conservative condition 
of the people and had to be defeated by them, I found my- 
self with the most liberal and radical minds, and often in 
advance of them, as in the matter of woman suffrage, 
which I introduced in committee of the whole and hud no 
supporters ; but on negro suffrage I had a dozen votes 
with me, and all of them Whigs, as no Democrat but myself 
dared to vote for it, My first speech was against capital 
punishment ; and on the rights of married women to prop- 
erty which came to them from others than their husbands, 
I took active part, and this more than any one article 
caused the defeat of our work. I also opposed banks 
and banking, and, as far as possible, all monopolies and 
extra powers for them. The active part I took on the 



66 FORTY YEARS ON 

side of the people in this convention, and my articles in 
the papers, for which I wrote often, rapidly made me quite 
popular with the laboring classes, and the poor and op- 
pressed, which popularity 7 1 have never lost, and in which 
I have never ceased to sympathize and labor in publit? and 
private, with tongue and pen. 

In spite of our efforts this constitution was defeated. 
Out of over one hundred and ninet} 7 members, only six 
were returned to the convention in 1847, to prepare a 
second ; but my county returned me by a large vote, 
though it gave a meagre support to the labor of the first. 
The leading politicians who were anxious for the offices 
were now very anxious to get into the Union of States and 
Congress, and urged us to be sure and not encumber the 
new work with objectionable articles, as it was desirable 
to get into the Union in time to have a vote in the presi- 
dential election of 1848. In this convention the journal 
shows more references to me than to any member of the 
body, and by it more than by memory I know that I did 
my share of the work, even as before, on the reform and 
radical side of every question ; and I think some of my 
work is still a part of the fundamental law of the State. 
My pen was as active as my tongue, and several papers 
were open to my articles and glad to get them, and by 
them I identified myself more and more with the laboring 
and oppressed classes, to which I had all my life belouged. 
Our work this time was readily accepted, and the State at 
once admitted into the Union. State machinery was at 
once put in motion, and Fond du Lac and Winnebago 
Couuties, being a senatorial district, nominated and 
elected me to the Senate for the two years' term to 
which it was entitled. During all this time I had steadily 
refused to be sworn into office or as a witness or juror, in 
which capacity I had served, but affirmed, as the Society 
of Friends do, believing the oath a farce — which opinion 



THE SPIRITUAL ROSTKUM. 6T 

I still hold — and of no value, except for the penalty of 
telling an untruth, and utterly worthless in qualifying an 
officer. Later in life, though considering it a useless farce, 
I accepted it and qualified with others. 

At this time I had become fully satisfied that spirit life 
was a reality and spirit intercourse opened, and never 
failed to advocate and defend both in public and private, 
never discovering that it injured me politically. In the 
two sessions of the Senate I took a very active part in all 
its business, seldom missing a session or a vote any day ; 
and in the second session I was one of the committee of 
three on this judiciary, though not an attorney at law. I 
was an advocate of many reforms, some successful, and 
some considered Utopian by our conservative body. C. 
Latham Sholes and myself, both Spiritualists, were called 
the David and Jonathan of the Senate, as we had joint 
desk and seats, and boarded and roomed together, and 
usually voted the same way. In the second session we 
adopted the commissioners' report of revision of the stat- 
utes, adapting them to state government, and I had much 
to do in the changing and adapting the report. I secured 
a complete change in the divorce laws and several other 
important items. I also secured a repeal of the usury 
laws and defeated the license law for the retail of liquors, 
but supported the act making the retailer responsible for 
damages. I advocated land limitation and the repeal of 
all laws for the collection of debts by a gradual proc 
Homestead exemption and the rights of married women, 
which defeated the first constitution, we secured in the 
statutes, and were at once accepted by the people who. by 
the discussion, had been educated up to the acceptance. 

In 1848 Lewis Cass was nominated for President, and 
his celebrated Nicholson letter caused me and mv friend 
Sholes and many others to leave the Democratic party : 
and, as we could not go into the Whig party, we, with 



68 FORTY YEARS ON 

others, began a new party, with the name of "Free Soil" 
afterward changed to Republican, and I issued the first 
call for a State convention of this party, which met in 
Watertown, Wis., with some thirty odd members. This 
was the first State convention of the party held anywhere, 
the next being in Maine, soon afterward. This call I 
issued from my home in Ceresco (now Ripon) , and I drew 
up its platform. My Democratic friends were very much 
offended at my leaving the party, as they had intended to 
send me to Congress from my district ; but my conscience 
not being as pliable as those of many Christians, I could 
not and would not accept a position that would restrain my 
tongue and pen on any subject I considered needing advo- 
cates — and by this time I had become satisfied the cause 
of the spirits did. In all this and subsequent public life, 
I opposed all laws for organizing and arming militia, be- 
lieving all such to be opposed to civilization and the best 
interests of our own and every other country claiming to 
be civilized. At the expiration of my term in the Senate, 
I, of course, could not be nominated by either of the old 
parties, nor elected by the new one ; but still I had many 
friends, especially among the producing classes and labor- 
ers, whose interest I had everywhere defended and advo- 
cated with tongue and pen, and largely through the press. 
During the second session of the Senate we had copies ol 
"Nature's Divine Revelations" on our desks. Brother 
Sholes kept them for sale ; and we defended spirit inter- 
course whenever the subject came up, which was quite 
often. The work I did, the measures I advocated, and 
the correspondence I kept up, during the two sessions, 
are now nearly forgotten, but, at the time, made me popu- 
lar with the people, and unpopular with political rascals 
and time-servers, as well as with monopolists. The news- 
papers of the State contained at that time many articles 
of mine, some with my name, and many without. Of the 



THE SPIRITUAL ROSTRUM. 69 

latter was a series of letters closely criticising, analyzing, 
and delineating the political and social character of each 
member of the Senate : and no one knew who wrote them. 
If I had copies of all this correspondence, a valuable vol- 
ume for the State library could be made from it. The 
volume entitled "The Fathers of Wisconsin," published 
by Tenney & At wood, and distributed by the State, con- 
tains a very just, though brief and imperfect, account of 
my life and services in Wisconsin. 

In 1849, when our society had decided to close up the 
social experiment at Ceresco, I procured the necessary 
legislative change in our charter which I had lobbied 
through the territorial legislature when we began the ex- 

o o o 

periment. I also did all of the legal business of the 
society as notary public and in drawing up papers and 
closing up, and later made out the deeds with the new 
form of blanks which I had got adopted by act of legis- 
lature in place of the old, with less than half the printed 
matter to record, and which are still used in the State. I 
had also done much of the town business as chairman of 
the board of supervisors, in laying out roads, etc. Dur- 
ing all these busy weeks I often found time to lecture on 
Spiritualism, including the "Rochester Knockings " and 
intercourse through mesmerized subjects. In 1849 the 
new party, which I had taken an active and leading part 
in starting, — then the t; Free Soil,'' now the Republican, 
— nominated me for governor in the strongly Democratic 
State of Wisconsin, where the Whigs were as stubborn and 
conservative as the Democrats. In the election of No- 
vember 6th of that year I received 3762 votes; N< 
Dewey (Dem.), 16,649 : and A. L. Collins (Whig). 11,371. 
I received a plurality in two counties, Walworth and 
Racine (then including Kenosha), and we had a plurality 
of votes for colored suffrage, but not a majority of all 
votes cast ; so it was lost. At the end of his two y 



70 FOBTY YEAES OK 

term the nominating committee in our State convention 
offered to report my name again, which would have 
secured my nomination ; but I declined, and secured the 
nomination of L. J. Farwell, and we elected him. In 
1852 I had the affairs of the Phalanx closed up, paying 
every debt on the stock and three dividends on the stock 
after it was all paid from the surplus property and sales 
which belonged to it. In this year the National Conven- 
tion of the " Free Soil" party was called to meet in Pitts- 
burgh, Pa., and I was sent by the State at large as a 
delegate and chosen one of its vice-presidents, Henry 
Wilson being president. I was also selected to make the 
last of four speeches before the convention after we had 
nominated John P. Hale and J. W. Julian, — Joshua R. 
Giddings making the first, Gerrit Smith the second, 
Fred Douglass the third, and I the last, the evening 
before the adjournment. I was also on the electoral 
ticket of Wisconsin for this nomination, and strangely 
enough ran ahead of my ticket. On the way to and from 
this convention I stopped and lectured on Spiritualism, 
as I did in Pittsburgh after its close, and as I often did 
while canvassing for the fall election. I was never aware 
of losing popularity by this course, except with a few 
bigoted Christians under the influence of a scapegrace 
preacher, named Henry Drew, who pretended to be a 
Methodist, but who, if known as he was, would have 
been at once rejected by that denomination and all others. 
During the years of 1852 and 1853 I spent most of my 
time lecturing on spiritual intercourse and other reform 
subjects. In January, 1853, while attending the United 
States District Court as a juror in Milwaukee, I gave a 
course of lectures there and wrote some severe criticisms 
on Judge Miller and his court, as I could not let politics 
alone, although my life was consecrated to the new gospel 
and I was getting out of politics. When the legislature was 



THE SPIRITUAL ROSTRUM. 71 

about to eiect a United States senator, I was told that a 
paper had been circulated and signed with pledges to vote 
for me if a sufficient number of names could be got to 
elect me on the first ballot, and that the paper only lacked 
five, which I could secure by personal effort and pledges ; 
but I utterly refused to make any concessions or promises, 
and my esteemed friend and a believer in spirit inter- 
course, Charles Durkee, was elected, and he told me him- 
self that I ought to have had his place ; but I did not 
want it, and have never regretted my course or choice of 
occupation. 

In 1853 I was elected an officer of the State Agricul- 
tural Society, and declined an invitation to deliver its 
annual address ; but lectured in the assembly hall of the 
capitol, on Spiritualism, in response to an invitation by 
resolution of members. Took an active part in the Free 
Soil State convention, but declined all honors. In this 
year I received the last of my popular and political hon- 
ors from Wisconsin as commissioner of the State to the 
grand and world-renowned Ciystal Palace exhibition in 
New York City, and attended it, taking notes and report- 
ing for the State, but was constantly lecturing on my 
subject of Spiritualism. During 1854 I travelled all the 
time, and lectured mostly out of Wisconsin, and in 1855 
took my family out of Wisconsin to a new home five 
miles from the village of Battle Creek, Mich., where there 
was a liberal academy in which I could educate my chil- 
dren more to my liking, and where Spiritualism was not 
ignored or ridiculed as it was, and is, in the college at 
Ripon, which I helped to get up, and where I made the 
speech at the laying of the corner stone. In Michigan 1 
took no part in politics, but had my home there till after 
the publication of m} T autobiography, which readies up to 
1857, since which the record is by sketches. I took little 
part in politics till I860, and in the election of Lincoln, in 



72 FORTY YEARS ON 

which I did all I could for his election, and on the break- 
ing out of the war, and during its continuance I made 
speeches continually in many parts of the country in sup- 
port of the union of the States and the army that. was 
endeavoring to maintain it. I, during that period, pub- 
lished my third book, " The American Crisis; or, Trial 
and Triumph of Democracy/' a purely political work, 
which was very popular, but which, being confined 
principally to the contest and the miscegenation of the 
races, was allowed to go out of print after the close of the 
war. I had a personal acquaintance with President 
Lincoln and Senators Wilson, Wade, Howard, Howe, and 
many other popular leaders of the Republican party 
during the war, and knew the above named except Howe 
were Spiritualists as I was ; but my life was devoted to 
Spiritualism, and theirs to politics and our common 
country, the interests of which were also sacred to me, 
and never neglected when I felt that my services were 
needed. My oldest son was in the army, going volunta- 
rily from college to the ranks as a soldier, but was soon 
promoted to assistant-surgeon. He was with his 
regiment at the capture of New Orleans, and returned 
safely after his three years' service, making his father's 
and mother's hearts glad, and thankful that his good 
habits of life had not been tarnished by college or army 
associations. 

At the first election of Grant after the war I voted for 
him in New York City, where I was then doing business. 
I did this, not because I considered him the right man, but 
because I could not vote for Seymour, on account of bis 
war record as governor of New York. At the next 
election of Grant I took an active part in the Liberal 
Republican rebellion and its nomination. As I was then 
in St. Louis lecturing and selling liberal books, and in 
the 4th Congressional District, I was put on the electoral 



THE SPIRITUAL ROSTRUM. 73 

ticket ; and canvassing with Carl Schurz, we carried the 
State of Missouri for Greeley by a large majority. I was 
elected presidential elector with fourteen others. As 
Greeley died after the election and before the meeting 
of the electors, I, with six others, voted for Governor 
B. Gratz Brown ; some others, for Hendricks ; and one, 
for another. I was not nominated by the Democrats, but 
accepted by them as a Liberal Republican. Since that I 
have been a Greenbacker, and not in either of the old 
parties. In another chapter will be found the social 
line of my life, as this is of the political line only. In 
1877 I was living with my second and present wife in 
Santa Barbara, California, editing a Greenback paper and 
lecturing on Spiritualism Sundays. A constitutional 
convention had been ordered, and my friends knowing 
that I had been a member of two and of a senate, 
induced me to run as a candidate ; but the monopolists 
feared such radical minds, and induced the circuit judge 
to run against me, as they said he was the only man that 
could beat me, and I being but little known out of the 
cit} T , and had been in it less than a year. This was before 
I had taken charge of the paper. At the court house 
precinct near which we both lived, I beat him ; but in the 
county he was elected, though really not eligible, as he 
was still circuit judge, and only by a strong legal support 
secured his seat, and his pay for both offices. He soon 
after died. The liberal element prevailed in the conven- 
tion, and a good constitution was the result, though a 
desperate effort to defeat it was made by monopolists and 
in the Catholic and some other churches, because it had a 
provision for taxing all church property. In this fight 
the opponents had 140 papers opposing it, and many able 
and paid speakers and writers, and we had only forty-two, 
one of which I edited, and also made many speeches, and 
We carried it against these odds by about 12,000 majority. 



74 FORTY YEARS ON 

My share and interest in this fight gave me the nomina- 
tion and election to the State Senate in 1879, for the 
fractional term of three years, — 1880-81-82, — during 
which time we had three sessions. My district consisted 
of Santa Barbara, Ventura, and San Luis Obispo coun- 
ties. My popular Republican opponent was in the same 
county with me. He had been a senator and a judge, and 
was the most popular man in the county, if not in the 
district. He beat me in our county, but in the district I 
was 339 votes ahead of him, to his surprise as well as to 
that of his friends. 

An effort was made by my Republican opponents to 
have me unseated, because I had not been in the State 
three years when elected ; but the Republican senators 
who could do it would not, as I was elected by law under 
the old constitution, which did not require that term of 
residence. My first contest in the Senate was to prevent 
the election of a chaplain, and I succeeded, with the aid 
of Catholic and Liberal votes and three of us Spiritual- 
ists ; and we had none in either of the three sessions I 
was in. 1 tried to get a land -limitation bill through, and 
did get it passed ; but the monopolists got two men elected 
by workingmen to change their votes, reconsider, and de- 
feat it. Other reform measures presented by me met a 
like fate. As monopolists controlled the Legislature, and 
I saw no chance to do good there, at the end of my term 
I decided to return to the East, and confine myself to my 
favorite business of lecturing, which I had not neglected 
during the sessions. In the Greenback (State) conven- 
tion in 1882 I was nominated for Congress, to represent 
the State at large ; and, as I could not be elected, accepted 
it, and, by the aid of a few friends, made quite an exten- 
sive canvass for our party ticket. In the following March 
I returned East, and was sent as delegate for the State 
in the National Greenback Convention, held in Indian- 



THE SPIRITUAL KOSTEUM. 75 

apolis, and, in that convention, nominated Gen. B. F. 
Butler, for California ; and he was our candidate that 
fall for President. This ended my political career, as 
I am now a citizen of Massachusetts, where there are can- 
didates enough without me. As it was some time before 
he fully accepted our nomination, and somewhat uncer- 
tain how far he would act with and for us, I did not 
make many speeches for Butler. As I had not suffi- 
ciently located to have a vote, I dropped out of the 
political arena almost entirely. The following brief no- 
tice of me, published in a volume of " Pen Pictures of 
the Representative Men of California," in the year 1880, 
may suffice to wind up this sketch of my political life : — 

"Hon. Warren Chase. 

"There are few men who have ever sat in the legisla- 
tive halls of California who can look back with more pride 
to a larger, more honored, or more useful career than can 
Senator Chase. Looking down the long vista of sixty- 
seven years, when his infant eyes opened for the first time 
upon this world, in Pittsfield, N.H., and following up his 
infant footsteps until the time when the down upon his 
cheek heralded his approaching manhood, with all its 
bright hopes and high ambitions, until the present era, 
now that the snows of many winters and warm summers 
of a well-spent and active life have silvered his hair, — he 
can assuredly find nothing to regret in the least except 
that it is passed ; while he has ample cause for congratu- 
lation that the sun of the present shines upon a character 
untarnished by the storms which he has battled so long 
and so well, and that his future opens before him full of 
the ripened glory of a life of usefulness and of honor. 
Senator Chase represents the counties of Santa Barbara, 
San Luis Obispo, and Ventura. 



76 FORTY YEARS ON 

"In 1835 he removed to Michigan, then a Territory; 
and in 1838, to Wisconsin, and settled in Southport. In 
1844 he removed to Fond du Lac Count}^ and settled with 
a colony what is now the city of Bipon, where he first gave 
evidence of his eminent fitness for public life, as a dele- 
gate to the first cons tit ational convention, in which body 
he took a prominent part. It was here, also, that he 
announced those sentiments of equality and of sympathy 
for the downtrodden, which should endear him to the 
heart of every true patriot. He was the mover in that 
convention of measures which declare the God-sent truth, 
that no person should be debarred civil or political rights 
on account of color or sex ; and at a time, too, when in 
the majority of the States of the Union such doctrines 
were held to be political heresies, and the author of them 
to be an outlaw in the popular estimation. He also 
defended the measure allowing married women to hold 
and control their own property, which defeated that in- 
strument, and also one to prohibit land monopoly. These 
opinions, expressed while a member of that convention, 
showed that as a legislator and as a man he was a fearless 
advocate of the right. Such, however, was the power of 
bigotry and prejudice in those days, that the measures 
and constitution were defeated ; but in spite of the mach- 
inations of his enemies, and the enemies of the people as 
well, Senator Chase was elected to a second convention, 
in which he took a very active part, leaving more refer- 
ence to him in the journal than to any other member ; 
and on the adoption of this constitution, he was elected 
to the State Senate by the counties of Winnebago and 
Fond du Lac, which he represented in the first two ses- 
sions of the State, taking an active part, — and in the 
second session, as one of the judiciary of three, — which 
session revised and adopted the statutes of the State. 

" In 1849 he was the Free Soil candidate for governor, 



THE SPIRITUAL ROSTRUM. 77 

receiving a large minority vote ; and in 1852 was a dele- 
gate in the National Convention held at Pittsburgh, Penn., 
which nominated Hale and Julian ; and made one of the 
four set speeches of that convention, with Gerrit Smith, 
Joshua R. Giddings, and Fred Douglass. In 1872 he was 
a citizen of St. Louis, and nominated by the Third Con- 
gressional District for presidential elector ; and on the 
State ticket elected, and held an electoral vote for Horace 
Greeley when he died. In 1876 he came to California, 
residing a short time in San Francisco and San Jose, and 
early in 1878 removed to Santa Barbara. He has dis- 
played a great deal of fire and ability in the journalistic 
field, as editor of the Santa Barbara Independent, one of 
the most lively and progressive country journals on the 
coast. 

"The senator is a Greenbacker in politics, and a married 
man. He is a hard-working and useful member of the 
committees on city and county and municipal govern- 
ments, enrollments, public morals, and labor and capital. 
He was elected to the present Legislature by the Working- 
men's party." 

Since my return to the East from California I have 
not voted ; but I am in sympathy with the Knights of 
Labor and the workingmen's organizations, and hope 
they will all unite and adopt Henry George's reform 
measures, and correct anarchy by the ballot, as I have 
no sympathy with dynamite. 



78 FORTY YEARS 02* 



CHAPTER VI. 

THE LIFE LINE OF DOMESTIC LIFE CONTINUED. 

" Through and through the woof of ill 
There runs a thread of goodness. 
Winds that shake the winged* mill 
Feed us with their rudeness. 
Frosts that autumn blossoms kill 
Ope the nut burs on the hill. 
Griefs that settled heart swards tear, 
Fit for greener blessings there." 

Threading His Way. 

"He wires in and wires out, and leaves the country still in 
doubt 
Whether the hound that's on his track is going south or com- 
ing back." 

At the time my " Life Line " was published, in 1857, I 
was living in a little cottage I built mostly with my own 
hands and those of my son, in Harmonia, in the town of 
Battle Creek, Mich., five miles from the station and city, 
where I often got off the cars as I returned from lectur- 
ing, and walked home five miles, carrying much luggage. 
Here we had improved and cultivated our one acre in the 
best manner we could, and with my pay for lectures, 
always small, and the most rigid economy of one of the 
best of wives and mothers, we sustained the family of 
five and kept three in the academy across the street from 
our house, till the oldest son was prepared to enter the 
University at Ann Arbor, where he graduated from the med- 
ical department during the early stages of the war, and 



THE SPIRITUAL BOSTPTJM. 79 

leaving there enlisted in the Michigan Sixth Regiment, at 
Kalamazoo, soon rising to the position of assistant-sur- 
geon. He went with the forces to New Orleans and was 
there at the capture of the city. He did surgeon's duty 
in that city nearly two years, and came home safe and 
sound near the close of the war. 

While I lived there, the election of Abraham Lincoln, 
in which I took as active a part as I could, brought on 
the war, and in that my tongue and pen were both active 
most of the time. The time South Carolina adopted the 
snake and palm flag I wrote the only poem of any note 
I ever wrote, and had two thousand copies printed and 
distributed, of which only one is to be found in our 
family, and that in my scrap-book. Soon after this, I 
issued u The American Crisis ; or, Trial and Triumph of 
Democracy," which had a rapid sale, but after the war 
soon went out of print. Until near the close of the war, 
there was seldom a week, and in some periods not a day 
in many consecutive weeks, that I did not make one or 
more public speeches in favor of sustaining the national 
union at all hazards ; but on Sunday I almost invariably 
spoke on Spiritualism, which deprived me of the reputa- 
tion and glory I should have won had I been a Christian, 
but which I then and ever scorned to seek at the cost of 
honest convictions and the knowledge I had that spirit 
intercourse was a fact. By my old diary, I see that on 
Sunday, Jan. 1, I860, I was in Hartford, Conn., and 
gave two lectures on our philosophy to good houses, and 
during the week spoke in Winsted three evenings, clos- 
ing on my forty-seventh birthday, Jan. 5th, and reached 
New York City Saturday, where on Sunday, the 8th, I 
spoke twice in Dodworth's Hall to large audiences. Jan. 
12th I was shocked with the news of the terrible fall of 
the factory in Lawrence, Mass., and loss of life. 1 lec- 
tured again the 15th in Dodworth's, and during the week 



80 FORTY YEARS OK 

went to Bridgeport and gave three lectures, then back to 
New York and gave three on the 22d. So my time ran, 
and had run, since the publication of " Life Line " to this 
date, and continued, of which only a few notes are neces- 
sary to keep the thread running in the web of life I was 
weaving. Jan. 27th my diary says I had grand circle and 
visit at the home of the elder of the Fox sisters, now 
Mrs. Underbill, and spent the night there ; remarkable 
manifestations, etc. ; 29th, Sunday, lectured in Newark, 
N.J. ; Monday visited the North Orange home of A. J. 
Davis ; and 31st, listened, in New York, to the eloquent 
bugle peals of Wendell Phillips, who even then felt the 
war-cloud coming ; also heard H. W. Beecher, in whose 
mind were also premonitions of the coming storm. Dur- 
ing February I lectured in Sansom St. Hall, Philadelphia, 
and in Baltimore in March, when the political pot was 
boiling with great fury, and had many talks with Brother 
Wash. Danskin, whose wife was and is a good medium, 
and he is in the spirit sphere. He was deeply in sympa- 
thy with the South and slavery at that time. I remained 
there only two Sundays, and then ran back to New York 
and up to West Winfield, where I spoke several times, 
and then in Rome, N.Y. ; visited the Oneida Community, 
lectured in Syracuse, as I often had before, and received 
poor pay, and felt sad and sorry, as I often had, from the 
abuse of these who ought to be my friends, as I was 
theirs ; and also for the low state of my finances, which 
were ever scattered where I felt they were needed and 
deserved, making the home demands most imperative. 
Lectured in Oswego and Mexico, N.Y., and crowded in 
lectures between the Sundays. 

In May, 1860, I worked westward, lecturing along the 
route in Western New York, Ohio, at Conneaut, Geneva, 
Cleveland, and other places. Visit Da} 7 ton, O., and 
Richmond, Ind., and Terre Haute, lecturing in all, and in 



THE SPIRITUAL ROSTRUM. 81 

other places. Spent most of June in St. Louis and other 
localities near the city, and lectured three or four times 
each week. Spent Jul} T chiefly in Iowa, Wisconsin, and 
in Minnesota, at Lake City, where I had a lively dis- 
cussion with a clergyman in his church. In August I 
reached home, at Harmonia, lectured en route, and visited 
the old Ceresco home. In September, while lecturing in 
Chicago, the steamer Lady Elgin sunk, and three hundred 
persons lost their lives in the night. The sad event was 
the subject of one lecture. The Prince of Wales was in 
the city, and I would not go across the street to see him. 
October spent in lecturing in Indiana and Michigan, busy 
all the time. November, visited my son Milton, who was 
then in the University of Michigan, and heard the dean of 
the medical department, in a lecture to the graduating 
class, on authoritj T , say he took no authority except on the 
subject of religion ; "on that," he said, u I shut my eyes 
and go it blind " ; and I thought so, as he was an Episco- 
palian, if anything. I also lectured in Detroit, in Novem- 
ber, and on the 5th went home ; and Nov. 6th voted for 
Lincoln for President in our precinct, and was ridiculed 
by Democrats and Whigs as a Spiritualist and fanatic. 
Very busy during the month of November, ending it in 
Central Illinois, at Brother Blanchard's, whose wife I had 
cured by magnetism when other remedies failed. Decem- 
ber I was busy all the time in Illinois and Ohio, and 
closed out the year at Toledo, at which time the air was 
filled with the rebellious sentiments of the South over the 
election of Lincoln ; but the North was as slow and quiet 
as it could be under the lashing it had. My diary for 
1860 says, 184 lectures in thirteen States, of which two, 
Maryland and Missouri, were slave States. Received for 
them and the sale of books, which I always carried with 
me, $795.50, and paid for my books and my expenses 
out of it, leaving a meagre support for my family. 



82 FORTY YEARS ON 

1861. " Threading my way." Opened the year in 
Cleveland, and, on the 5th of January, my forty-eighth 
birthday, was in Baltimore, Md., listening to the reck- 
less utterances of rebellious citizens hanging around the 
saloons. Sunday, the 6th, opened my course of lectures 
to large audiences. Strong union sentiments expressed, 
and yet the rebel element controlled the marshal and city 
officers. Lecture four Sundays of January on Spirit- 
ualism, and several week evenings on that and other 
subjects in that city and its vicinity. Excitement in- 
creasing all the time. Lecture four Sundays of Febru- 
ary in Philadelphia, and some evenings in the vicinity. 
Strong union sentiment here. Lecture in Trenton, N.J., 
Feb. 25th, Monday evening, to small and poor audience, 
gotten up by David Lukens, father of my present wife, 
and one of the earliest, honestest, and most devoted 
believers, a prominent antislavery advocate, who came out 
of the Society of Friends, from Orthodox to Hicksite, and 
Hicksite to Friends of Progress and Spiritualism. All of 
the Sundays of March I lectured in Oswego, N.Y., and 
evenings in Penn Yan and Mexico, and held a discussion 
two evenings with Professor Grimes, he opposing, and I 
defending, spirit life and intercourse. At the close he 
said to me, "I have got the money, and you the glory, 
and I am satisfied, and suppose you are." During this 
month the events at Washington were thrilling the whole 
country, and of course I was in it. First Sunday in 
April I lectured in Utica, N.Y., and during that week, 
April 12th, the fire began to fly at Charleston, S.C., and 
the fever began to rise in the North. I was at a quiet 
town on Long Island, but felt the shock, and began at 
once to take active part with my tongue and pen — the 
only weapons I could use. Sunday, spoke in Troy, and 
spent the week in a convention in Worcester, Mass., with 
Mrs. Spence, Sister Barney and others, and we all made 



THE SPIRITUAL ROSTRUM. 83 

speeches for the Union. Next two Sundays in Providence. 
Troops left while I was there, and war fairly began ; fever 
ran high. On the Sundays of May I lectured in Putnam, 
Conn., and several evenings on the national conflict and 
its issues. In June lectured in four or five places in Con- 
necticut, and in several in Massachusetts and Vermont, 
filling all the Sundays on Spiritualism, and evenings on 
the war, which was now fairly opened. Scandalous let- 
ters were constantly sent round ahead of me to defeat my 
work in Spiritualism and stop me, as such lies had stopped 
and sometimes killed others more sensitive and with less 
firmness and perseverance. Spent all of July in Vermont, 
and lectured constantly, in Stowe, Hard wick, and other 
places. Spent most of the month at South Hard wick, in 
Samuel and Susan Tuttle's pleasant and beautiful home, 
and wrote my second book there, "The Fugitive Wife," 
long since out of print. Met in Vermont ' ' Sleeping Lucy 
Cook," and other early mediums, among them Mrs. Blair, 
the painting medium, who to this day is one of the most 
remarkable and convincing mediums this country has yet 
produced. In August my son received his diploma at 
Ann Arbor, went home, and enlisted in the Michigan 6th 
Regiment at Kalamazoo, and wrote me an excellent letter, 
giving as his reasons for doing so that being in good 
health, of right age and no family, he felt it to be his 
duty. This month, also, my first grandchild was born, 
Henry Whelpley, now a professor in the St. Louis Col- 
lege of Pharmacy. Spent all of August lecturing every 
Sunday and many evenings, in Vermont and New Hamp- 
shire, closing at Newport, N.H., the home of my wife. 
Spent September in Massachusetts and New Hampshire, 
speaking in Lowell, Boston, and Manchester to good audi- 
ences, and often on the war. Lectured all of October in 
Massachusetts, Vermont, and New Hampshire, busy all 
the time Contracted with Bela Marsh of Boston, to 



84 FOBTY YEARS ON 

publish my new book, " The Fugitive Wife." November 
was spent in Massachusetts, mostly in Boston and Quincy, 
with a visit to Providence, and all the time busy with 
tongue and pen, writing for papers, and carrying on a large 
private correspondence, largely on reforms. Spent De- 
cember in Massachusetts, and had at its close lectured 
every Sunday of the year 1861, and many week evenings, 
giving in all 170 lectures, receiving on an average for 
each lecture $3.52. Closed the year in Boston, Mass. 

1862. Found me as the old year left me, with the har- 
ness on and ready to begin a new year and continue the 
old work. Began in Providence, E.I., first week in Janu- 
ary ; second Sunday in Boston, third Sunday also ; fourth 
in Foxboro and back to Providence again. During these 
trips and lectures many incidents transpired that were 
important and worthy of notice, but they have passed 
from memory, and cannot be recalled sufficiently to be 
recorded. Opened February in Philadelphia, and Laura 
De Force Gordon, now an attorney in the Supreme Court 
of California and the United States Supreme Court, spoke 
on the same day. I had known her since her starting as 
Laura Force, who lived with her parents of that name in 
La Crosse, Wis., a remarkable girl and good medium. In 
those years of '61-2 I often, in my visits to New York, 
went down to Modern Times, L.I., where T. L. Nichols 
and Mary Gove Nichols had started with others a settle- 
ment, and effort at social reforms, as I had friends there, 
and there I first became acquainted with Emma Hardinge, 
now Emma Hardinge Britten, one of our most active and 
efficient workers in England, and well known in our coun- 
try. She and her mother were quietly living there then, 
or about that time, and she was developing into medium- 
ship, and soon after went upon the rostrum. In Philadel- 
phia I found my home with Dr. H. T. Childs and Dr. 
Chase. My son Milton , and the Michigan 6th Regiment, to 



THE SPIRITUAL ROSTRUM. 85 

which he belonged and of which he was now hospital 
steward, were in Baltimore, and I visited him and them 
and lectured in Baltimore in the midst of the rebel 
elements. Feb. 9 being Sunday, spent a week in camp, 
mostly with my son. Also visited Brother and Sister 
McCombs at Jarretsville, Mel., and the third Sunday in 
February I lectured in Cincinnati, O. The war was now 
raging terribly, and I used week evenings often in speak- 
ing for the National Government and its armies, but Sun- 
days always for Spiritualism. From Cincinnati I went to 
Centralia, 111., to visit a patient I had often and success- 
fully treated before, and there begun, and soon after 
completed, my third book, " The American Crisis," which 
Bela Marsh published for me in Boston — a purely political 
work on the war and slavery and the results. Lectured 
at Sandoval and other places on the issues of the war, etc. 
In March I visited South Pass, 111., now Cobden, where 
G. H. Baker, and others of our old Phalanx members, had 
settled for favorable climate and soil for fruit-raising, 
and I was looking up a place for the same purpose for 
my family home. Visited and lectured in Carbondale, 
where I had old friends living. April, lectured in 
Decatur several times, also in Milwaukee, Wis. Diary 
says, went to Fond du Lac, and could not get place to 
lecture ; went on to Nenah, and walked in rain and mud 
five miles, carrying baggage, and got wet, tired, and dis- 
couraged, but found good hearts in a poor home, and 
rested as well cared for as their circumstances would 
permit. Went out there on business for a friend, but it 
was a failure, and one of the many hard times I had to 
pass through as a part of my lessons in this life. Back 
to Milwaukee, and lectured there again, April 1 ">. to good 
audiences, also in Waukesha and other places during 
April. I crossed the lake to Grand Haven, and lectured 
there ; also in Grand Rapids, April 27. If this was not a 



86 FORTY YEARS ON 

tramp life, I do not know what could be. In all those 
journeys I did not get more than expenses, except an ex- 
perience in colds. Reached home at Battle Creek, April 
28, tired, sad, sorry, and poor, as usual, and yet confi- 
dent of the value of the cause in which I was engaged. 
Spent most of May at home, but lectured at Battle Creek 
and Sturgis, Mich., and first Sunday in June, also in 
Sturgis ; after that in Adrian and Toledo, Cleveland, 
Chagrin Falls, and Braceville, O. Lectured nearly every 
evening on the war issues, and closed June at Chardon, 
with Lucia Cowles, a good lecturer and excellent woman, 
developed through great tribulation and a social hell. 
Saturda} T , June 5, lectured in a church in Clyde, O., on the 
war, and Sunday, 6th, on Spiritualism, in a barn out of 
town, as no place in town could be got for that subject. 
Stayed at Brother A. B. French's, as I had before, as he 
was a younger worker in the same cause, and a good one. 
July opened in Syracuse and Hastings, N.Y., and Colosse 
and Mexico and several other places ; during July at 
Watertown, N.Y. August opened at Stowe, Vt., with 
good meetings ; went to South Hardwick with Samuel and 
Susan K. Tuttle, two of the best friends and best Spirit- 
ualists I had ever found, and where I often visited and 
wrote much of my books. Lectured all of August in 
Vermont, north and west of Montpelier, and closed August 
at Bethel. September was a stormy month in war news, 
and I lectured many times on it week evenings, and 
Sundays as usual, mostly in Vermont, about Gaysville 
and Hardwick and Bethel and Barnard, and closed the 
month at Lebanon, N.H., and Meriden, lecturing in both 
places. Oct. 1, was at the old home of my wife in 
Newport on a short visit. Lectured there in the town 
hall on the war; but my pious brother-in-law, Nathan 
White, now in spirit life, would not come to hear me 
because I was a Spiritualist and he a Baptist, yet a zeal- 



THE SPIRITUAL ROSTRUM. 87 

ous advocate of my views on the war. Lectured all of 
October in New Hampshire and Massachusetts. Sundays, 
mostly in Lowell, to good audiences, much better than 
can be secured there in 1887, since Catholicism has got 
control of the city, and shrouded it in sectarian dark- 
ness, as it does every place it controls. In November 
Bela Marsh got out my book, " American Crisis." I 
lectured in Quincy and other places in Massachusetts ; 
the last Sunday of November, in Lewiston, Me. Spent 
much time in Boston. When in Quincy I went home one 
day for tea with a friend to Neponset, whose daughter 
was controlled by an Indian chief, who named all the 
speakers and mediums he brought home, or who came 
there ; and he was anxious to get my name. Soon after 
our arrival the Indian came and greeted me as " North 
Star," and the old gentleman asked why he gave me that 
name, and he replied, " Because the mariners set their 
compass by him." It was curious, but quite a compli- 
ment. December, lectured in Brunswick and Yarmouth, 
Me., and Taunton, Mass., and visited Providence, Boston, 
Lowell, and several other places ; gathered war news, 
which was exciting and varying in results of battles. 
Closed the year in Boston — a very busy year. My son 
was with Gen. B. F. Butler's division in New Orleans, 
and assistant-surgeon of Michigan 6th Regiment, and 
well. I had delivered 136 lectures this year, and in 
eleven of the States, thirty-one on the war, and 105 on 
Spiritualism, for all of which I received $449, which 
would not much more than pay my travelling expenses, 
on which I could not have met my expenses had 1 not 
carried and sold books, which assisted me, and whirl), with 
my satchel and clothes, I often carried long distances from 
the cars to the friends with whom I stopped. This was 
one of my hardest years, and yet with good health and 
the frequent encouraging messages from spirit friends, I 



88 FORTY YEABS ON 

did not falter, as I had taken hold of the plough not to 
turn back, even to the political flesh pots. 

Jan. 1, 1863. In Boston with my old and dear friends, 
Samuel and Susan Tuttle and Fannie Remick, late Mrs. 
Allen Putnam, all now in spirit life, and still good friends 
and interested now as then. We parted, Samuel and 
Susan for their Vermont home, and I for my work, which 
opened in Providence with three lectures, the first Sunday 
of the year. Lectured in Woonsocket and visited with 
one of our old pioneers, Seth Vose, and others ; also in 
Pawtucket evenings, and 2d, 3d, and 4th Sundays in Provi- 
dence, where we had full houses at five cents admission. 
I had the receipts for pay, and got well paid, as I thought, 
when compared with receipts in many places where I was 
employed. First Sunday in February spoke in Philadel- 
phia ; second, in Foxboro, Mass., and in New York and 
Philadelphia. Third Sunday in Plymouth, on old Puritan 
landing ground, and now saturated with this heresy which 
would have been crushed out in the first half-century after 
the settlement. Next in Kingston, where I found a quite 
liberal sentiment. Visited Milford, N.H., once the home 
of the celebrated Hutchinson family, which had greatly lib- 
eralized the mind there, as elsewhere, with their inimitable 
songs of freedom and justice. Lectured there, and re- 
turned to Foxboro to close the month of February, during 
which I had been on the run, lectured in five States, and 
opened March in Foxboro, but passed most of the month 
in Maine, Brunswick, Lewiston, Yarmouth, Kennebunk, 
and Portland, and in Massachusetts at Marblehead and 
Salem, on old witch ground, where they once crushed out 
mediumship with the cruel death of mediums under the 
Christian's cruel mercy. 

My diary records this month as one of sorrow, sadness, 
and discouragement, and yet I kept on my work, almost 
heartbroken sometimes, and often out of the reach of the 



THE SPIRITUAL ROSTRUM- 89 

spirit guides, who could only comfort me when the condi- 
tions were right in me ; but I had scarcely then learned 
that the impress of sorrow and suffering were necessary 
to bring up and out the finer expressions of thought and 
feeling. First half of April was spent in Vermont, mostly 
at Brookfield. and South Hard wick, at Brother Turtle's ; 
plenty of snow, a good place for sugar, but poor for lec- 
tures. Last half of April was spent in Northeastern 
New York, at Potsdam, TVatertown. and other places, 
where I lectured and got little pay. but found the best of 
friends, among them Dr. E. A. Holbrook, of Watertown, 
quite a poet and an early Spiritualist and of the Universa- 
list church, which was not the Nazareth out of which no 
good thing could come. Spent all of May in State of 
New York, lecturing in central part, and closing at 
Brighton, but spent two pleasant weeks at Colosse and 
Hastings with my old friends the Cones and Chutes, 
faithful and efficient Spiritualists of that time and since. 
During this month the war news was very exciting, and 
generally good on the whole — especially to me from 
my son in New Orleans. June I spent in New York and 
Ohio mostly, and lectured in Rochester, Buffalo, Lock- 
port, and Pekin. and the 16th in Ohio, at Painesville and 
Chardon, at the home of Lucia Cowles, one of our best 
lecturers, and now in spirit life, and closed the month with 
a grove meeting at Newbury with Brother and Sister 
Allen, two radical and thorough reform workers, and still 
at it in 1887. During July I lectured many times in 
Ohio, about Seville, AVestfield, New London, and other 
plaees. much with Mr. Farnum and his family, best 
people and thorough Spiritualists. 21st. I visited Angola, 
Indiana, and Waterloo, and lectured there several times, 
and closing July at Adrian, Mich., where 1 had lectured 
many times, and had good friends but small pay. as in 
most places. August opened with my lectures in Adrian, 



90 FOBTY YEABS ON 

and my daughter Lottie came to meet me, and we visited 
her uncle, William White, at Monroe, and then went home 
to Battle Creek and spent one quiet Sunday. Aug. 9th 
had long journey and great variety of incidents, but little 
pay over expenses, yet sent home all I could. Aug. 16th 
lectured in Albion, Mich., and as usual had good au- 
diences, as it was before the free love scare had its effect 
in keeping away many, as it did in later years ; but most 
persons came from curiosit3 T , and not as converts. Re- 
turned home 17th, and diary says, cold hearts there except 
in our home circle ; but had good audiences Sunday, 24th, 
and closed August with grove meeting at Evans ville, 
Wis., with Mrs. Kate Stowe and other speakers to help 
me, and retired to Janes ville with the Stowes. 

September I lectured in Janesville and Fond du Lac, 
Oskkosh, and Milwaukee, and visited my old home in Ripon, 
once Ceresco, but now given up to whiskey and religion, 
which divide the place between them ; hence there is no 
sale of my old home in the valley, so beautiful when no 
liquor was sold or kept there, and no preachers, lawyers, 
or doctors were needed. Close the month with lectures 
•in Broadhead, Wis. October spent in Chicago, 111., 
Elkhart, and Goshen, Ind., and other places, and closed 
the month in Bloomington, 111. Diary records last two 
months as among the saddest, most discouraging of my 
life. I was almost compelled to give up all and retire to 
obscure life. November, a little better. Lectured many 
times in Bloomington, Clinton, and Decatur, and visited 
General (now Governor) Oglesby, then a Spiritualist, and 
for aught I know, one still. Lectured in Sandoval, Salem < 
and Centralia, and got about enough to pay travelling 
expenses. Looking up a place for a home farther south 
than Michigan, visited Carbondale and Cobden, 111., and 
closed the month at Cobden with friends G. II. Baker, E. 
A. Blanchard, and their families, and in looking up a place 



THE SPIRITUAL KOSTRUM. 91 

to locate. December lectured in Cairo and Cobden, and 
selected lot and purchased the improvements of Captain 
Philips' railroad land in village of Cobden, and which has 
ever since been my only home, with my son-in-law, J. T. 
Whelpley and family, and my beloved daughter, ever 
endeared to me, and- 1 to her, and her excellent family of 
six children. 

I took thirty, and Mr. Baker ten acres of the forty, his 
adjoining his farm across the road. Having closed this 
trade I moved north and lectured in Du Quain, Centralia, 
and Sandoval, and visited Brother and Sister Wilson. 
Lectured in Decatur, and closed the year 1863 at Clin- 
ton, 111., at the home of Brother Lintner, who afterward 
backslid, as Christians often, and Spiritualists seldom do. 
Diary says this had been a year of joy and sorrow, — 
latter largely in the ascendant, — of severe trials and 
poor financial prospects ; yet there came good out of it 
ultimately, and the great causes of suffering gradually 
wore away and were overcome. Delivered 170 lectures 
during the year and received $582, and paid travelling 
expenses $357, leaving $225 for support of "family and 
life insurance and interest on note given for money to 
build the home at Battle Creek. These lectures were given 
in twelve States of the Union, — many of them week 
evenings, — on the war, which that year took up most 
of the public attention. Diary says I wrote over one 
thousand letters that year, many of them published. 

Jan. 1, 18G4, found me in Clinton, 111., in a severe 
snow-storm, and the mercury at 23 below zero. Too 
cold for lectures, and I pass over Sunday and go to 
Decatur, to find a hall closed after it had been engaged 
for my lecture in the evening ; but Sunday wo had the court- 
house. As the Christians had got the hall closed against 
us, the two Smiths, E. O. and T. O., both worthy citi- 
zens and Spiritualists, got the court-house for me. I 



92 FOBTY YEARS ON 

return and lecture in Clinton the 16th and 17th. Return 
to Decatur, and, finding Von Yleck advertised to lecture 
against me, I lectured on him, his history and mediumship, 
and treachery, as I had known him from boyhood, and he 
gives it up and departs. Gave several lectures in Spring- 
field, and close the month at Bloomington, — a hard 
month, — and feel very poor and discouraged. The war 
was raging, and so was our war with the churches. Like 
our officers in the Revolution, I often get down-hearted, 
but never gave up. Spent February in and about Chicago, 
and lectured often to good houses and for very small pay. 
March was also spent about Chicago and Milwaukee and 
at my home in Battle Creek, where my eldest grand- 
daughter, Ada Whelpley, was born, March 22, at 3 a.m. 
Her uncle Milton, M.D., arrived from New Orleans on a 
furlough the same night at 12 m., and I at 1 p.m., and we all 
talked over our prospective removal to Southern Illinois, 
then called Egypt for its moral, social, and political dark- 
ness, but not for its religious, for it had several preachers 
who could not read any printed language, but could 
preach " Christ and him crucified," as the} 7 had heard 
of it, and could save souls with the story. 

I sold the Battle Creek home for $700, a small part of 
what was needed to pay for a fit-up in the new one at 
Cobden, but hoped in vain to sell the old one at Ceresco. 
That hope was like the Christian's hope — a failure of real- 
ization, at least, when it depends on a bodily resurrection 
or a reception by Christ in the next stage of life. April 
was a busy month with me ; lectured at several places in 
Illinois, and visited Cobden, and myself and son-in-law, 
J. T. Whelpley, begin work on our new place, root the 
old sucker out of his den, and get possession. J. T. W. 
remained there, and I returned to Michigan home, and 
parted with Milton, whose furlough ended, and he re- 
turned to New Orleans to his post in army as assistant- 



THE SPIRITUAL ROSTRUM. 93 

surgeon. I moved out of the little cottage I* sold, into 
the next house, and packed up goods for final move. 
Scattered some lectures on my journeys, and closed April 
in Chicago, where I commenced May with two lectures on 
the 1st in Wetonsky Hall, to good audiences. I visited 
Wisconsin and my old home, to try to sell, but sadly re- 
turned to work ; no sale, and discouraged, but pursue 
my calling in spiritual work faithfully, and hear heaps 
of abuse for my itineracy in a work so terribly heretical. 
Of course I was as bad morally as I was religiously to 
bigots and hypocrites and the self-righteous. Lectured 
again in Chicago, 111., Davenport, Iowa, and Geneseo, 
111., and closed the month in Galesburg ; a busy month, 
but expenses use up nearly all receipts for lectures. 
During June I lectured in La Harpe, 111., where I was 
sick, and for a week not able to swallow food except 
liquid, and yet gave six lectures. Such was the pressing 
necessity with me for the mere pittance of pay, as it had 
been all my life in every one of my fields of labor. 
Speak also in Carthage and Galena, and attend conven- 
tion at Geneseo, and find many good friends there, 
among the speakers, Dr. Samuel Underbill, one of our 
oldest and ablest defenders; and also Mr. Allen, a resi- 
dent, and once a clergyman. Gave a course also in New 
London, and closed the month in Aurora, 111. 

July opened with a convention at St. Charles, 111., at 
which were Leo Miller, then an able advocate, and Benjamin 
Todd, another, and also one of our best in the field. Dr. 
Juliette II. Severance, now of Milwaukee, and also Prof. 
A. B. Severance ; closed the 5th. "Went to our new home 
in Cobden, and worked on lot, and got lumber for single 
board additions to old log-house. I leave Mr. Whelpley 
to fit it up, and return north, and lecture in Odin, San- 
doval, Bloomington, Jolliet, and Chicago, 111. Close July 
at Whitewater, Wis., at the Severance home. August 



94 FORTY YEARS ON 

lectures commenced in Milwaukee. On the 9th we open 
our national convention of Spiritualists in Chicago ; and as 
the war was raging, its spirit got in our convention, and 
a bitter spirit was engendered on political questions which 
marred its harmony and usefulness, and we closed it the 
14th without accomplishing much besides talk ; but most 
of us speakers said our say, and stirred the subject. From 
there I went to Morrison, Prophetstown, Freeport, and 
Eockford, and closed the busy month at Belvidere, 111. ; a 
hard and busy one, and much sorrow in it and its trials. 
Opened September with a grove meeting at Belvidere, and 
had a good time, but some scandalmonger wrote a scanda- 
lous report of it for A. J. Davis' paper in New York, and 
lied about us for the glory of God and scandal of Spiritual- 
ists. Sept. 8th I reached my old Michigan home ; lectured 
there for the last time, and packed once more for a move 
in life to another new home, as rude as the others had 
been, for my work in this unpopular cause had not en- 
abled me to get a better home than my work in the saw- 
mills had. On the 15th we all started for our new home in 
Illinois, — self, wife Mary, and daughter and her two chil- 
dren, and son Albert, of all of whom, and the rest of my 
descendants, I am very proud, and have good cause to be. 
We all arrived safely, and I lectured on Sunday at my 
new home, and worked on house, and we all boarded till it 
was fitted. Milton had resigned his commission in the 
army, and come home to help us ; and we soon got into the 
rude shanty, all of which had given way to better rooms 
except the old log part. Went to Cairo, and lectured, and 
closed out the month of September, and began October 
by transferring Wisconsin property to Milton for sale, 
and he went to dispose of it as best he could. Closed 
the month with hard work and moving in new house, 
and Oct. 4 started north on lecturing tour again, and 
commenced in Decatur. I was now a citizen of Illinois, 



THE SPIRITUAL ROSTRUM.* 95 

it being the fourth State I had been a citizen of, and twice 
of Michigan, within sixteen years, during which time I 
had gained the reputation of being one of the fathers of 
Wisconsin. Lectured in Princeton, Galena, and several 
other places on my way north, and also in South Bend, 
Elkhart, and Goshen, Ind., and closed October at Elk- 
hart. Eventful month, and mostly pay out, and not in, 
pocket. Opened November at Sturgis, Mich., where we 
had and have a church belonging to the Spiritualists, but 
run into a sort of conservative Christian Spiritualism of 
late years. Lectured most of this month in Ohio, includ- 
ing several lectures in the Mormon te,mple at Kirtland ; 
spoke at Chardon and Burton, and closed November at 
Meadville, Pa. December, visit Meadville, Corry, and 
Erie, Pa., and reach Syracuse and lecture there the 
4th, and visit Dr. Butterfield, a very successful healing 
medium. Spent a week at Colosse, and returned to Syra- 
cuse and gave three more lectures, and then to Bing- 
hamton, where I had some of the best friends and good 
lectures, but light pay, as usual. Visited the Oneida 
Community. Good visit ; but its theological founder, 
Noyes, does not like me, yet the others do. I have often 
written them up for our papers, and will not do it here. 
Returned and lectured again at Syracuse. Spent Christ- 
mas there, and over a crooked route via Pennsylvania 
to Maryland, to lecture at Sarah Furnace, Md. Closed 
the month and year in Washington, D.C., at the home 
of Major Chorpening, and with a visit to President 
Lincoln. During the year 1864 I gave 158 lectures 
in eight of the States, but most of them in Illinois ; 
and fifty-five were on the war, and the others on 
Spiritualism. For all I received §643, and paid in niv 
personal expenses $418, leaving for family and moving 
expenses $225. The books I carried and sold paid a little 
over cost and expressage. This was a hard year, and one 



96 FORTY YEARS ON 

in which I had many sad hours and sore afflictions, and 
some very happy ones with dear friends I cannot for- 
get, although I see them no more. 

Sunday, Jan. 1, 1865, lectured in Washington. D.C., 
to good audiences and with success. Met many friends 
in Washington, among them several mediums, who were 
giving private sittings to President Lincoln, especially 
Nettie Colburn, now Mrs. Maynard, formerly of White 
Plains, near New York City, and Colchester, now in 
spirit life, but then a good test medium. I mention this 
because many prejudiced people deny that Lincoln was a 
Spiritualist, and I know he was, as also were Senators B. 
F. Wade, Henry Wilson, Senator Howard of Michigan, 
and many others of our prominent public men of that 
time. Lectured to good houses the five Sundays of Janu- 
ary ; visited the White House and halls of Congress. I 
had good success in our cause, and the war drawing to a 
close, with the triumph of freedom and the union of 
States. In February I retired to Brother McCombe's, at 
Sarah Furnace, Mel., and wrote out my five lectures given 
in Washington, under the title of " The Gist of Spirit- 
ualism," which now, in its sixth edition, is published and 
sold by Colby & Rich. During the last half^of February 
I gave ten lectures in Philadelphia and three in Vineland, 
N.J., which was then a promising new settlement for 
reformers, but soon got under a theological control that 
blasted the hopes of progressionists. During March I 
gave a number of lectures in Vineland, and joined Dr. 
George Haskell and Mr. John Gage in an effort to start 
an industrial college at Vineland. We organized, and 
they bought the ground for it ; but it failed for want of 
sufficient interest and financial aid and from religious prej- 
udice against us. Closed March at Syracuse, N.Y., 
where we received the news of capture of Richmond and 
Petersburg. 



THE SPIRITUAL ROSTRUM. 97 

In April, while I was visiting and lecturing in Syracuse, 
N.Y., the news reached us of the close of the war; and 
that of the murder of President Lincoln, Friday evening, 
April 14, caused the whole country to be shocked and 
draped in mourning ; all parties and persons seemed sad 
and to deeply regret the event. Sunday, the 16th, I 
delivered a eulogy on Lincoln's life and tragic death. 
Lectured in S} 7 racuse four Sundays, gave eight lectures, 
and received $20 for the month ; but gave some evening 
lectures in vicinity on the tragedy, and duties of all in the 
hour of trial, suffering, and triumph. May 7th, gave two 
Sunday lectures at Hastings and got §1.75 and rode six 
miles to deliver them ; even this was better than I was 
paid many times, and yet I never faltered or neglected an 
opportunity to tell the few that would come to hear me 
what I could about our philosophy and our facts. May 
14th, lectured in La Fargeville, N.Y., and return to 
Watertown, where I was visiting Dr. E. H. Holbrook, one 
of our active workers with his poetical pen. Lectured there 
and in several other places. Closed the month with course 
of lectures in Potsdam, and visited that greatest of 
sufferers I ever saw, Austin Kent, whose release from his 
mortal body some years ago gladdened me, as it must 
have done him, for his mind was clear and strong in his 
trials. During June I lectured in Vermont, — a month in 
South Hard wick, — and wrote a large part of my book, 
" Essence and Substance," which was not published till 
1886. July was also spent at Hardwick, at the pleasant 
home of Samuel and Susan Tuttle. August, lectured in 
Glover, Derby, and Charleston, Vt. ; also at Gayville, and 
attend the Vermont State Convention at Ludlow and do 
good share of speaking, and closed the month with lec- 
tures at St. Albans, Vt. September, lectured in St. Al- 
bans, Brookfield, Williston, Bethel, Rutland, and Milton, 
Vt., and Granville, N.Y. Visited Saratoga and closed 



98 FORTY YEARS OK 

September at Syracuse. Oct. 1 and 8, lectured in S} T ra- 
cuse, where the cause lags and never was strong. Lec- 
tured in Rochester, where the cause is better, as it was 
the cradle in which the " knockings " were rocked in their 
infancy. Oct. 16, attended Spiritualists' national con- 
vention in Philadelphia, with John Pierpont, president, 
whose old pious friends try to prove he was not a Spirit- 
ualist, since he is not here to dispute them or to defend 
Spiritualism, as he abfy did when visibly present with us. 
The convention held five days, during which much dis- 
cussion was engaged in and business transacted, but its re- 
sults are all gone now, as they possessed no permanency. 
Oct. 22, lectured in Wilmington, Del., on Spiritualism, 
and stopped with that well-known philanthropist, Thomas 
Garrett; also lectured there the 29th, and closed the 
month in Philadelphia at the home of Dr. Chase. Lec- 
tured all of November in Vineland, N.J., to good houses, 
— great free-love excitement, but it was all u much ado 
about nothing." I was not in the tempest at this time, 
but had often been a target for the shots of a vulgar 
rabble of impure puritans in social matters ; but it never 
hurt me or my influence, as it always run off like water 
from a duck's back. December, lectured in New York 
City, and Newark, N.J. Met and visited with Professor 
Upham, of Bowdoin College, a confirmed Spiritualist 
when not at home with his Episcopal wife. Lectured in 
Bridgeport, Conn. Visited the socialist community at 
Wallingford and saw — as I had at Oneida — where 
they had made a fatal mistake in their organic effort, as 
we did at Ceresco. Spoke at the funeral of a boy, — 
Parker, — in New Haven, and found some good friends. 
An accident, not from any cause of mine, threw me out 
of an engagement for this month in New York, which I 
greatty deplored, for I was sadly in need of money for 
our new home in Illinois, where nothing had been raised 



THE SPIRITUAL EOSTRUM. 99 

to support the families. Closed the month and the year 
at Newark, N.J., with course of lectures. During the 
year I delivered 121 lectures in six States, and Wash- 
ington, D.C. — one hundred on Spiritualism, twenty-one 
on other subjects. Received for all $424, and paid out 
for my expenses $263, leaving $161 — a meagre amount 
for the support of my family ; had to hire money and 
worry all the time, but never gave up the cause nor my 
work in it. This was one of my hardest years, as we 
were starting our new home in Southern Illinois. 

1866. Spent January in Washington. Lectured the 
four Sundays and several evenings, and had my home 
with Judge Tabor, of Iowa, then an auditor in the 
Treasury. February, lectured in Wilmington, Vineland, 
and Newark, and in Westfield, Mass., and Poquanock, 
Conn. March 1st found me lecturing in New Haven ; the 
2d, in Newark, N.J. ; and 4th, in Philadelphia. I cite these 
to show how rapidly I moved about to find work, though 
it barely paid expenses. Spent most of the month in 
Philadelphia, but closed it with lecture in Syracuse. 

Lectured in several places in New York during April, 
and closed the month with lectures in Painesville, O. 
May, lectured in Cleveland, Akron, and other places. 
Reached my new home in Illinois the loth, and lectured 
there, October, Sunday, the 20th, at Villa Ridge ; 27th 
of June, commenced lectures at Decatur, then gave a 
course at Clinton, and closed the month at Rockford, 111., 
in a three days' convention of Spiritualists. In July I 
visited Chicago and made payment on land, and lectured 
July 4th in Tippecanoe, Ind., then back to Cleveland, 
where I heard of the death of Susan K. Tuttle of South 
Hardwick, Vt., whose house had so often been my resting- 
place, and where I wrote much for my books. She died, 
and her mortal remains wore buried at Syracuse while she 
and her husband were visiting there : hers was the first 



100 FORTY YEARS ON 

materialized face I ever saw that I knew in life. This 
was not long after her transition, and was in Western 
New York. I saw plainly a sear she had on her under 
lip, and did not think of it till I saw it as I kissed her, 
but knew the f aee as soon as I saw it, though not thinking 
of her. Lectured in Cleveland the 8th, visited that best 
of reformer's homes, D. and S. Allen's, in South New- 
bury, O., and lectured at Chagrin Falls; visited River 
Styx and attended the funeral of Mrs. David Wilson, and 
closed the month with lectures in Cleveland. In these 
years of my itineracy we had occasional conventions 
and grove meetings, but that was before we had inaugu- 
rated our camp meetings. I was as busy in summer as 
in winter. August, lectured in Geneva, O., and had a 
sick turn from weariness, and discouragements financially, 
but not from any fear of failure in our cause. Attended 
a grove meeting in Windsor, on the 12th ; long journey 
and poor pay when funds were most needed. Aug. 21st 
we met in stormy convention in Providence, R.L, Mr. 
Toohey, Lizzie Doten, and others ; never a storm but a 
calm follows, and all at last were satisfied but Toohey, 
my diary says. Lectured again in Windsor, and closed 
the month in Boston, visiting Samuel Tuttle and others. 
September opened with lectures in Foxboro, Mass. Sun- 
day, the 2d, and on the 7th I was at the State convention 
in Montpelier, Vt., where we had, as usual in that State, 
a good and profitable session. Return, and lecture in 
Massachusetts and Providence, and closed the month at 
Painesville, O., with lecture on Sunday, the 30th. On the 
Sundays of October I lectured in Chicago and several 
evenings in Wisconsin. November opened in Davenport, 
Iowa, for Sundays, and in Iowa City and other places, 
evenings. Closed the month at Rock Island, and lectured 
there Dec. 2d, 9th, and 16th, and in Vermont, Illinois, and 
several other places, and reached my new home in Cobden 



THE SPIRITUAL ROSTRUM. 101 

the 25th. Lectured the 30th in Cleveland, and closed 
the month and year in cars on my way to New York City. 
This was another hard year, one of the worst for labor I 
ever had, poor pay and long journeys, and troubles of 
various kinds. Gave 147 lectures in twelve States, and 
Washington, D.C., all but eight on Spiritualism, and re- 
ceived for them 8982, and paid in personal expenses $587, 
leaving $395 for family and home expenses, where much 
more was needed, as I had life insurance, taxes and pay- 
ments on home land to meet, and had to hire money to 
meet them. 

Jan. 1, 1867, reached Xew York City over Pennsylva- 
nia Central Railroad and took charge of the bookstore 
and business which Colby & Rich had bought of A. J. 
Davis & Co., at 544 Broadway, which business I had the 
care of as long as Colby & Rich continued the branch 
office in that city, to their satisfaction, but not at a profit 
to them after paying my salary, which was the highest and 
best pay I ever had. The business did not prevent my 
lecturing most of the Sundays in the vicinity of Xew York, 
and many evenings. I had also a Xew York column in 
the Banner of Light, with an editorial heading, over which 
Brother Colby had supervision and control as sole editor, 
which position he has ably held many years. In June 
of this year an incident occurred never to be forgotten 
by me. A friend by the name of Hopkins gave me $150, 
to pay debts which I had incurred before I came to the 
store — a free and voluntary gift from him after asking me 
how much I was in debt. It was not the last donation 
from that best of friends, but the largest. During this first 
year in the store I gave seventy-live lectures on Sundays 
and kept up a large correspondence. I was engaged in the 
store during all of 1868 ; lectured about the same as the 
year before, and kept up my regular correspondence in the 
Banner of Light. 



102 FORTY YEARS ON 

The opening of 1869 found me still in the store at 544 
Broadway, New York, and on my fifty-sixth birthday, 
being January 5. The 1st of May this year was fixed as 
the time to close up the business of the New York branch 
of Colby & Eich ; and the last of April I packed the 
books, selecting, under Mr. Rich's direction, an assort- 
ment for the American News Company as their New 
York agents, and we gave up the office April 30, which 
many New York friends greatly regretted, as it had been 
a favorite headquarters for Spiritualists. I had lectured 
most of the Sundays, whether I got pay or not, though I 
usually received small sums ; but my salary supported 
me and enabled me to pay for the place in Illinois, which 
made my family a home wherein they could by hard work 
and strict economy get a subsistence. I was retained at 
a small salary on the Banner corps of correspondents, 
for that year. After closing up the store I travelled and 
lectured, visiting our home in Illinois, and, returning East, 
took in two partners, and we each invested $500 in liberal 
and Spiritual books and stationery. I selected this stock 
in Boston in August, shipped it to St. Louis, and opened 
a store there, with the sign of u Liberal and Spiritual 
Literature. Warren Chase & Co." Soon as I got settled, 
with my two lady partners to take charge of the store, I 
lectured Sundays, and often evenings ; hired a hall my- 
self, and had a legally organized society, and was legally 
ordained its pastor, which authorized me to lawfully per- 
form the marriage ceremony, and has ever since, I being 
also legally authorized by a society in Illinois and in 
Iowa. My diary for this year is incomplete, and I do 
not know the number of lectures ; but they did not fall 
much short of previous itinerant years. I remained in this 
business and lectured until January, 1873. I paid back 
their investments to my partners, and sunk the whole capi- 
tal in the enterprise, but by my lectures and salary from 



THE SPIKITTJAL ROSTRUM. 103 

the Banner paid all up in two years after closing out ; and 
I came out as poor as a church mouse. 

In 1872 my name was on the presidential electoral 
ticket for Horace Greeley, and as our ticket was elected, I 
received pay enough to get a suit of clothes. I had made 
a trip to Denver on a railroad pass, and gave a course of 
lectures there ; visited many places in Missouri, Kansas, 
Illinois, and Iowa, and did not slacken my labors in the 
work to which my life was consecrated. I sold out the 
stock, or what I could of it, and lost $150 more in that 
trade by the failure of the person to whom I sold ; and I 
gave him up his note and never asked him for anything 
for it, even though he is still in St. Louis, but poor. I 
owed the amount to the Banner office, but soon paid it 
up. Then we closed my salary at the office as one of the 
paid contributors. It was the first and the last pay I 
have received for correspondence, although I have con- 
stantly written for the Spiritual papers, and expect to as 
long as I can write and read, As my diaries are lost, 
— if they were kept during my time spent at St. Louis, — 
and only fragments remain of 1873, I can only guess at 
the lectures and pa} 7 , and will not insert a guess in this 
book on the subject. 

In August of 1873 I took active part in the great camp 
meeting at Silver Lake, Mass., gotteu up by Dr. Gardner 
and Dr. Richardson, and in which Horace Seaver, editor 
of the Boston Investigator, and Victoria C. Woodhull, the 
greatest social agitator this country has produced, took 
part ; and it was a camp meeting never to this day 
excelled by any of the hundreds held since, and none 
ever better managed. Reporters estimated 15,000 people 
there at one time, — the day Mrs. Woodhull spoke, 
Horace Seaver and I and Lizzie Dot on spoke. That 
year I lectured in many places, including Leominster and 
Clinton, Mass., Saratoga and Syracuse, N.Y. I also 



104 FORTY YEARS ON" 

attended the celebrated Hemlock Hall meeting in Collins, 
N.Y. ; and there, Mrs. White being the medium, saw 
materialized faces, among them those of Mrs. Susan 
K. Tuttle and William White, of the Banner of Light, 
who suddenly passed on to higher life April 28. Both 
gave me evidence of identity by the intelligence they 
manifested, as well as their features. Lectured in Pitts- 
burgh, Penn., and Wooster, O., and in September at- 
tended the Liberal convention of Mrs. Woodhull and her 
sister, and in the social contest took sides and active part 
with her, which greatly prejudiced some of my friends, 
among them S. S. Jones, editor of the B. P. Journal of 
Chicago, who never got over it till he was shot and killed 
by a jealous husband, who was never punished for the 
murder ; but this friend's eyes were opened soon after his 
transition, and he saw himself as others saw him; but 
his active mind has outgrown it and atoned for it since. 
I lectured in Chicago that month to large audiences, 
which were not diminished by my course in the conven- 
tion. In October attended the Iowa State convention at 
Des Moines ; it was a grand success. I also attended 
the Kansas State convention at Leavenworth, and did 
most of the speaking. Visited Lawrence, Kan., lectured 
in St. Louis, and reached our home in Cobden, October 
27. That night, at 12.30, my daughter's fourth son, 
Warren Chase Whelpley, was born, with the peculiar and 
fabled old mystery of a veil over his face, from which 
occurrence we have seen nothing remarkable as yet. 
Spent the remainder of 1873 in lecturing in Illinois, from 
Cairo to Chicago, and from Dakota to Wisconsin, and in 
Iowa, and closed the year at Council Bluffs. 

In 1874 I commenced lectures in Des Moines, Iowa. 
July 4th I delivered an oration at Colfax, Iowa, to 2000 
people, which, with many more on the political situation 
and the Greenback party given in that congressional dis- 



THE SPIRITUAL ROSTEUM. 105 

trict and the adjoining one, stirred up the people to such 
an extent that J. B. Weaver was elected to Congress, and 
drawn into the position that made him the Greenback 
candidate for President. The other district also elected 
a Greenbacker, Gillette, with the State capital in that 
district, and where I had lectured even in the state-house 
and court-house on this subject. Visited Canada, and gave 
twelve lectures there on Spiritualism, and in other places 
during September. On the 16th of September I attended 
a convention in Boston, reaching there, via Montreal, sick 
with ague chills which Dr. H. B. Storer cured at once. 
In October attended an Iowa State convention at Des 
Moines. My diary records 167 lectures this year in seven 
States and Canada. Married several couples and attended 
funerals, as I always have, when called upon, in my itin- 
eracy. Made several visits to mj T son's home in Otsego, 
Mich., where my wife spent this year and also part of 
next, while I had an addition to the ola house built for 
ourselves, when we could be there. My pay this year 
was but little over living expenses, and not what was 
needed at our new home ; but my heart never faltered in 
the work. During this year and the next I distributed 
a large amount of our literature, more than any previous 
year in St. Louis, if not in New York, as I took out a 
large part of the stock from the store in St. Louis, and 
increased it so as to include nearly everything of value 
in that line from the Banner and Investigator offices in 
Boston, locating the stock in Colfax, Iowa, and taking 
portions of it round where I lectured, and at conventions, 
until I ran the stock out. 

1875. Jan. 1, I was in Colfax, Iowa, where I kept my 
supply of books, and commenced lectures Sunday, the 3d, 
in Des Moines, which at that time was quite prominent as 
a place for Spiritual meetings, and had Mrs. Woodhull 
there to lecture on the social question, which was her 



106 FORTY YEARS ON 

hobby, while she endorsed spirit intercourse and was a 
medium. Jan. 5, the diary says, sixty-two years old 
and thirty-eight years married to-da}^. Gave twelve 
lectures this very cold month in Iowa. In February 
drifted in at Independence, Iowa, and walked a mile 
where the thermometer was thirty-three degrees below 
zero, and nearly froze, but reached a good home at 
Charles Patricks'. Worked in Iowa till April, and then 
visited Illinois home ; built another addition to our house, 
and in June visited my son in Michigan, where my wife 
Mary was still visiting, but lectured at every opportunity 
I had to get an audience. In July attended Vermont State 
convention at Plymouth ; also lectured in Paine Hall, 
Boston, and attended the Cape Cod camp meeting ; also 
visited Saratoga and the Eddy's old home in Chittenden, 
Vt., where they were giving very satisfactory seances and 
materializations. Attended the Iowa State convention, 
at Iowa Falls, in October. Nov. 16, my wife reached our 
home in Illinois, from our son's home in Michigan. I was 
there, and our son Albert, and we all had our last family 
Thanksgiving meeting with all but the doctor, our oldest 
son, at our turkey dinner. I had been finishing up the 
work on the kitchen addition, and on the 18th left for 
Iowa, parting with Mary, the last time I saw her in the 
flesh, and with no thought of its being the last ; but I 
have since seen a materialized form resembling hers several 
times when the intelligence that came through it removed 
every doubt of its being controlled by her spirit. Nov. 
24, I was at Colfax, Iowa, and had had dreams and signs 
of death, but had no idea of the cause until I reached 
Anita, in Cass County, where I was to lecture Sunday, the 
27th. On reaching there late Saturday eve, I found the 
telegram telling me of Mary's transition at 12.30 a.m., 
the 26th. They knew of my Sunday engagement there, as 
they usually did, but did not know where else to address 



THE SPIRITUAL EOSTKUM. 107 

me. It was as sudden to all at home as to me, for she 
was about the house the day she passed over at midnight. 
I could not get home to the funeral, and beside, had no 
money to go with, having just come from there and used 
up all I had. I kept on my course to earn the money to 
pay the expenses, but I had good messages from her 
before she had been five days in spirit life, assuring me that 
all was well, and urging me on in my work, as she has 
many times since, always assuring me of her interest in 
the cause which was dear to her for many years before 
she passed to spirit life. I changed my route as soon as 
I could do so, and get employment so as to reach home 
as soon as possible and have the expenses paid, as every- 
thing was clone in the manner she would have had it. 
Mrs. Dr. Cutler gave the funeral address, and we had it 
published in the Banner of Light. It was worthy the 
author and the subject. 

Sunday, 28th, in sadness, I lectured in Anita on death, 
taking in the recent one, the effect it had on her and us, 
and closed up the year at Council Bluffs, Iowa, after a 
visit and many lectures in Kansas. Diary reports 148 
lectures this year, pay not varying much from other years, 
but larger book sales, the receipts from which were always 
mixed with those for lectures. The actual receipts for 
lectures were less than 8700, more than half of which 
must have been used for travel and personal expenses, and 
the profits on the books were small. 

Centennial year, 1876, began lectures in Omaha Jan. 
2, and continued to lecture in Iowa, Illinois, and Ohio, 
till June 12, when I went from Alliance, O., to Centennial, 
and spent two weeks in that place, lecturing three times 
each Sunday, and thereby paying expenses. Returning 
to Alliance and my work, I spent most of September at 
our home in Illinois, and Dec. 1, started from Omaha 
for California. Stopped in Columbus, Neb., and gave 



108 FOETY YEARS ON 

four lectures, also stopped and gave a course of lectures 
in Salt Lake City, to large and appreciative audiences 
of Gentiles, but few Mormons. I reached San Francisco 
Dec. 30, at 11 p.m., having closed the year, an event- 
ful one, with the Centennial in it and the transition of 
many friends following that of my wife to the spirit 
world, and many trials and perplexities, as in previous 
years. Diary reports 158 lectures, six in Salt Lake City. 
1877 was an eventful year for me and my work. 
Rachel Lukens, daughter of David Lukens of Morrisville, . 
Penn., across the Delaware River from Trenton, N.J., for 
many years a well-known medium who had given tests in 
Philadelphia, New York, Chicago, St. Louis, Denver, and 
San Francisco, and well known to me and my family, and 
who had been two years in California, gladly received and 
welcomed me, and we were married in January. The 
society had a speaker engaged for January, and I waited 
and commenced my work in California in February, which 
was successful in the State, and continued to be so during 
my stay in California : in Sunday lectures on Spiritualism 
in whatever public capacity I was engaged, while editing 
the Santa Barbara Independent and Pacific Greenbacker, 
during my three sessions in the State Senate, and while 
canvassing for that office and as a candidate for the consti- 
tutional convention of Santa Barbara County, and for mem- 
ber of Congress for the State at large for the Greenback 
party, which, of course, could not elect me. I lectured in 
many parts of the State and many times in the large cities 
and towns, sometimes taking my wife with me when she 
was able to give tests. Diary for Jan. 5 says, sixty-four 
years old to-day, married forty years ago to-day to Mary 
P. White, and lived with her nearly thirty-nine } T ears, and 
she passed over to the spirit life Nov. 28, 1875, the 
first break in our family since the little boys passed over 
in 1843. Diary reports 132 lectures first year in the 



THE SPIRITUAL ROSTRUM. 109 

State of California ; in many places, but chiefly in San 
Francisco, San Jose, Santa Barbara, and more each suc- 
ceeding year in the State. Spiritualism at that time was 
as popular in California as in any part of the Union. Its 
meetings were treated with as much respect as those of 
any church b\' the people generally, as was evinced by my 
election to the State Senate and my popularity in that 
body, which was not affected disadvantageous!} 7 by it, as 
I was the recognized leader in that body in the cause of 
temperance and woman's suffrage, as well as other reform 
measures, and I succeeded in defeating the election of a 
chaplain to be paid out of the State treasury, — a shame- 
ful proceeding of other States, and of that also in previous 
years. 

1878. After residing a short time in San Jose, and 
lecturing there and in San Francisco and Sacramento, 
early in February we moved to Santa Barbara, and into 
a little cottage, which was our home as long as we re- 
mained in the State. I lectured there constantly till I 
went to the Legislature, and as editor had too much on my 
hands for a short time, but still never failed to fill all 
engagements I could get, as I ever have, up to this time 
of writing, never failing from a personal cause. In July 
of this year I started and edited the Santa Barbara Inde- 
pendent, after having departed for the constitutional con- 
vention, and continued to edit it until my second session 
in the Senate, where my duties were such I released 
myself from the paper, and it was soon after sold to the 
Democrats, who had no paper at the county seat. 1879 
was a very busy year with me ; but my work was largely 
local, advocating the adoption of the new constitution 
with tongue and pen, mainly because it required the tax- 
ing of all church property and unimproved lands to their 
actual value. Our success in carrying this measure in 
our senatorial district put me in the Senate at the first 



110 FORTY YEARS ON 

election under it. I also took an active part in the Green- 
back political party and in its conventions ; but my Sun- 
days were sacred to Spiritualism. With the help of a few 
friends, especially Mrs. H. F. M. Brown, who was stop- 
ping in Santa Barbara, preparing for her transition, which 
she knew was near, we kept up a lyceum for about two 
years. Closed the year in San Francisco. During this 
year I had seen the cause of Spiritualism growing rapidly, 
and I had not failed to do my part towards its advance- 
ment. 1880, Jan. 1, I reached the capitol at Sacramento, 
where the Legislature met. Jan. 5 was my birthday, 
— sixty-seven years old, — and the oldest member of the 
Legislature. I was soon invited to lecture for the Spiritu- 
alists Sunday evenings. I of course accepted, and had 
the governor and his wife at my second lecture. I con- 
tinued to edit my paper during this session of one hun- 
dred days. Returned home April 24, stopping to lecture 
in San Francisco. I supported J. B. Weaver for Presi- 
dent, with tongue and pen, through the campaign. When 
we started our paper, there were three in the city ; and in 
July, my diary says, ours was the only one in the city. 
One of the others had been bought out by our publisher, 
and the other suspended before its new editor came 
and was shot and killed — a good man and a Spiritualist, 
known to me in the East. The murderer, after three 
trials, got legally cleared, but not morally or spiritually. 
'Diary of Sept. 25 says, Theodore Glancy, editor of 
Press, shot b} r Clarence Gray, under influence of liquor, 
died next day. I spoke words of comfort and consola- 
tion to the mourners at several funerals .during this and 
preceding and subsequent years. Closed the year at 
Sacramento, ready to meet in Senate session for Janu- 
ary, 1881. Sunday, Jan. 2, lectured for Spiritualists, and 
spoke at the Irish League meeting ; and Monday, 3d, 
Senate met, and I was in my seat, which my enemies had 



THE SPIRITUAL KOSTRTJM. Ill 

tried in vain to have vacated, because, as they said, 
falsely, I had not been in the State long enough when 
elected, and they depended on the party vote to rule me 
out because I was not a Republican nor a Democrat ; but 
failed, as I was popular with both parties, and the chair- 
man of the committee told me they should keep me and 
needed more like me. Lectured Sundays during the 
sixty days' session, and attended and spoke at funeral of 
the landlady where I boarded during the first session, 
Mrs. Julia Hancock, her family Spiritualists, and many 
more in Sacramento. Disconnected myself from the In- 
dependent at opening of this session and wrote for Santa 
Barbara Press occasionally after my return in March. 
The governor called an extra session for April, because 
important business had been neglected by party wrangling 
and squandering away the time of the sixty days' session ; 
and in April we met again, but to no useful purpose, 
as party strife defeated every effort to get the required 
measures passed. On the whole, it was a disgrace to the 
State and the Legislature, and I was glad my time was 
out with the session, and that it was the last I should 
take part in. After all efforts of the honest members 
failed, we adjourned May 13, and I then took the cars for 
the East, via Utah. I stopped over at Salt Lake City and 
Ogden and gave a course of lectures in each place. I 
reached Anita, Iowa, May 25, going to the home of Brother 
Edwin Cates, where I had once received the notice of the 
death of my wife. June 1, I spoke in the Greenback 
State convention in Marshal, Iowa, and met my daughter 
in St. Louis ; we spent a week there, lectured, and then 
went home to Cobden with her for a rest and visit, which 
I greatly needed and greatly enjoyed, as all who partici- 
pated did. June 14 was at mv son's, the doctor, in 
Otsego, Mich., and lectured in Allegan Sunday. I could 
not rest easy on a Sunday if I did not have an audience 



112 FOETY YEAES ON 

to address on our glorious truths. June 28, I attended 
a Greenback camp meeting at Lansing, Mich., and took an 
active part with old friends, Jesse Harper, Solon Chase, 
J. B. Weaver, D. La Mater, Gillette, and others, many 
of whom were Spiritualists, especially Brother Potter, who 
got up the camp meeting and conducted it successfully 
through the 4th of July. After lecturing in several places 
in Ohio I reached Cassadaga, N.Y., camp meeting, Aug. 
5, and said my say as usual there for several days. 
Aug. 14 and 15 attended the Lake Pleasant camp meeting 
and spoke there on politics Monday, 15th ; I also visited 
Onset and spoke there Sundays, the 21st and 28th. 
Opened the camp meeting at Harwich ; returned to Boston 
Sept. 1, and lecturqd in Paine Hall Sunday, Sept. 4. 
Closed the grove meetings for the season, Sept. 11, at 
Shawsheen grove, with Dr. Richardson's picnic. I was 
engaged the remainder of the year busily lecturing all of 
the Sundays and many evenings in Massachusetts, New 
York, New Jersey, and closed it at Trenton, N.J., at 
the home of my present wife's mother and sisters, visiting 
them. Trenton is to this day one of the most aristocratic, 
orthodox places I have ever visited, and far behind most 
other cities of its size and population in intellectual, 
advanced thought, yet is steadily outgrowing its old fogy 
formalities. January, lectured in New Jersey, Pennsyl- 
vania, and Maryland, and on the 20th was in the 
Woman's Rights National Convention in Washington, 
D.C., but not called to the platform or introduced by the 
leaders, though one of the oldest and boldest public 
advocates of equal rights between the sexes in the coun- 
try, and one who had introduced woman's suffrage into a 
legislative body in 1846, so far as I know, the first instance 
of the kind. But I was not orthodox, and it was clergy- 
men and members of Congress they were seeking for 
indorsers. They had Congressman Orth, a Spiritualist, 



THE SPIRITUAL ROSTRUM. 113 

on the platform to speak, but none of the leaders and 
but few of the audience knew he was a Spiritualist ; but 
I did, and all knew I was. and that excluded rue from the 
leaders to whom I was well known as older in the cause 
as a public advocate than any of them. Had a pleasant 
visit with my old friend. Col. R. G. Ingersoll, and my old 
political friend. Postmaster-General Howe of Wisconsin ; 
also Senator Miller of California, and through his polite- 
ness was introduced to President Arthur. I had also 
man}' personal friends in Congress*, among them both 
senators from Missouri, who were on the Presidential 
electoral ticket of Missouri with me in 1872 : and yet the 
woman suffragists snubbed me. partly, perhaps, because 
I was a personal friend of Victoria C. Wbodhull, who did 
more for the cause in her three years' work than any one 
of them had done in any six years, and more than most 
of them have done in their lives, in directing public atten- 
tion to the injustices done women by unequal laws. I 
delivered the address on Thomas Paine's birthday to a 
large audience, and lectured on California and on Spirit- 
ualism during my stay in Washington. 

Spent two months in Washington : returned, and lec- 
tured in Philadelphia in March, and also in Worcester, 
Mass.. where we celebrated the thirty-fourth anniversary 
of the spirit rappings at Hydesville and the good work of 
the Fox girls. In April I started West, stopping to lec- 
ture in Binghamton, N.Y., and Alliance. 0.. Cleveland, 
Clyde, and Toledo. May 24. with the National Green- 
back Committee in St. Louis, and visiting my son Albert, 
who was then and is now a police officer in that city. 
Lectured there and visited Cobden home, and lectured in 
Kirksville. Mo. Peached Ottumwa, Iowa, in tin. 
the clouds in the distance that carried d ion in a 

cyclone to Griunell. Saturday eve, June 17, 1882. 
day, 18th, lectured in Ottumwa, and the 2T>th. in 



114 FORTY YEARS ON 

Bluffs ; great excitement about the cyclone. On the 27th 
took emigrant train for San Francisco, and had good fare 
and pleasanter time than on the express, by which I had 
travelled over the route, and should prefer the former again 
at the same price for each, as I belong with the poor and 
laboring classes. Reached San Francisco July 5, home 
the 6th, and had no incident en route worth recording, 
unless I write a novel about it and the sand storms of the 
desert. Remained about home at Santa Barbara till the 
Greenback convention nominated me for Congress for 
the State at large, and a few friends furnished me trav- 
elling expenses, without which I could not go out to can- 
vass ; and then I started and made political speeches week 
days, and lectured on Spiritualism Sundays, as for no 
cause would I ever give up that work, and all knew my 
views on that subject. Visited many places and made 
many speeches, sometimes accompanied by others, among 
them Mrs. Marion Todd, attorney-at-law, who was also 
on the State ticket. Of course, none of us expected to 
be elected ; but in accordance with my past record I ran 
ahead of most of those on tickets with me, which went to 
show that my religious belief and social character did not 
injure me with the people, although plenty of lies had 
been told about me. In San Francisco election day, 
and of course I could not vote, but stayed and lectured 
there and in other places, and closed the year in the 
city. I passed January 5, 1883, my seventieth birthday, 
in San Francisco, where the Spiritualists and my politi- 
cal friends got up a reception in Ixora Hall, and about 
500 people called during the evening and made many 
speeches and read poems ; some of the latter may be 
found in the poetical chapter of this book ; but the 
speeches were not reported, which I have ever regretted. 
Received also many presents and over $50 in money, and 
enjoyed the grandest time of my life ; for my labors and 



THE SPIRITUAL ROSTRUM. 115 

motives seemed to be appreciated by so many personal 
friends. Lectured in San Francisco and Sacramento till 
Feb. 26, when I went home to sell and close out at Santa 
Barbara, prepare to move East with my family, and 
leave California till I could visit it as a spirit without 
an earthly body. Closed my lectures in Santa Barbara 
Sunday, March 11, and sold house lot, with all the furni- 
ture, etc., for $675. Started East on the Southern Pacific 
Railroad, and reached St. Louis the 22d, where we met 
my son Albert, and grandson H. M. Whelpley, of the Col- 
lege of Pharmacy. Spent a week and lectured there, and 
then Rachel and Ida moved on to Trenton, N.J., to board 
with sisters and mother. I left the train, and lectured in 
Terre Haute, Toledo, Clyde, and other places on my 
route via Corry, Penn. ; also at Jamestown. All along my 
line of travel I found interest in our cause, and lectured 
continually, as I had done for so many years. At Erie, 
Penn., met Moses and Mattie Hull, two old, able, and faith- 
ful workers in the cause ; also visited my friend Anna D. 
Weaver, author of " Richard's Crown," and a contributor 
to several reform papers. Lectured in the large house of 
Oliver Gr. Chase, in Jamestown, N.Y., because we could not 
get a hall except at an extra and exorbitant price. Oliver 
and his family had long been among the pioneer workers. 
Reached Trenton June 28, where we have plenty of friends, 
but no home, and where I never want one, as the atmosphere 
is too blue for me ; but I lectured there to a few, most of 
them as much Christians as Spiritualists, and who did not 
dare to get far from the Bible and the creeds fgunded on 
it. July 5, self and wife went to Boston on first trip 
of steamer Pilgrim, the finest boat on the line at the time. 
From Boston we went to Ouset camp-ground, and also 
attended the Cape Cod camp meeting, taking part as usual 
in the exercises of both. Rachel returned to Trenton, and 
I went from Boston on steamer to Bucksport, Me., and 



116 FORTY YEARS ON 

attended camp meeting there. From there T went to the 
pleasant home of Dr. Samuel Emery's family, at Glen- 
burne, Me., and with them to iEtna camp meeting, and 
returned to Boston at the close via coast steamer, and 
lectured in Worcester during September and October to 
large audiences. Continued to lecture every Sunday and 
many evenings in New York till last of November, when 
I went to Trenton, and lectured in Vineland and other 
places till the end of the year, Dec. 31. 

1884 was a busy year, opening my lectures in Washing- 
ton, D.C., where I hired the hall myself for two months, 
and kept up my meetings, stopping with my excellent 
friends, Mr. and Mrs. George Roberts, who got up a very 
pleasant social party on my seventy-first birthday, at 
their house. Mrs. Roberts has since gone to spirit life, 
now followed by her husband. Few better women or 
men have passed on from our ranks. During March and 
April I lectured in Indianapolis, and had large and intelli- 
gent audiences in the old Plymouth church. May and 
June I spent in Ohio and Western New York, taking in 
Mayville and Jamestown. Returning to New England, I 
was engaged all of the time and in many places, closing 
the year with excellent audiences in Norwich, Conn., and 
at the home of one of our best and ablest workers, Byron 
Boardman, who has since prematurely gone to spirit life, 
from his body being overworked. During the year I 
attended the camp meeting at Onset, and four in Maine, 
and lectured in Portland, where I had not lectured for 
thirty years ; also in Newburyport and Amesbury, and 
many other places. 

1885. Opened in Worcester, and had a good public 
reception on my seventy-second birthday, Jan. 5, in the 
hall where I was lecturing. February, lectured in Nor- 
wich ; and the eleventh of the month our daughter Ida 
was married in Trenton, to Charles W. Bergen — a very 



THE SPIRITUAL ROSTRUM. 117 

satisfactory match to us all. Lectured in Cincinnati, 0., 
the five Sundays of March, and gave the cause a new 
impulse there, that continued to increase for several 
years, and continues at the time of writing this. Caught 
a severe cold that laid me up half of April in Toledo. 
Visited son's family in Otsego, Mich., in April; lectured 
there and in Grand Rapids and several other places. 
Crossed the lake to Milwaukee, and had a pleasant home 
while in the city with those noble workers in our cause, A. 
B. and Dr. Juliette H. Severance. Visited and lectured 
at my old home, once Ceresco, now Ripon, Wis., and in 
the substantial hall of the Spiritualists in Omro — a place 
where I planted the first seeds of our philosophy. Had 
grand visits with old friends, Phillips, Lockwood, Wood- 
ruff, Mason, and others, where the cause has never lan- 
guished since we first started it in that part of the State, 
though strenuous efforts have ever been made by the 
churches to put it down and out. Lectured in Detroit on 
return East. Many years since I had lectured there, and 
on this visit found it about the same as formerly, — too 
much church aristocracy, but religion at low ebb. Lec- 
tured in tne Universalist church at Clyde, and in our 
church at Geneva, O. Lectured in Saratoga on the Sun- 
days 01 August, and had good audiences, except on the 
16th, when I spoke in Onset, Mass., on camp grounds. 
September, at Queen City Park camp meeting ; spoke also 
in Leicester, Stowe, and Bellows Falls, in a church at 
each place. I found the Universalists in Vermont more 
liberal than in Massachusetts or New York. Spoke in 
Boston and other places in Massachusetts, New Hamp- 
shire, and Rhode Island. November, in Norwich, Conn., 
and Willimantic, in our church. December, lectured in 
Worcester, and closed the year there. Diary Bays, very 
busy year, and barely paid expenses of self and family. 
Jan. 1, 1886. Opened lectures in Springfield, Mass. ; 



118 FOETY YEARS ON 

and Jan. 5, had a very pleasant and large party at Mr. J. 
M. Johnson's, to celebrate my seventy-third birthday. 
Lectured in Massachusetts, Connecticut, and New York 
till last of February, and then went via Trenton, N.J., 
and Cincinnati to Louisville, Ky., where I lectured two 
months, during which time we had the great Southern 
Convention of eight days in that city, — a grand time and 
good results. 

May, I spoke in Evansville, Ind., Cairo, and other 
places in Illinois, and spent most of the month at my home 
in Cobden, with the pleasant and happy grandchildren 
and their parents. In June, lectured in Springfield, Mo., 
and in Liberal, Mo., where we had a grand three days' 
meeting, closing July 4 — being Sunday. We had no 
pra}^ers in our meetings and very large attendance ; no 
liquor, nor drunkenness, nor quarrelling, and hence 
needed no priest or magistrate. Lectured in Warsaw, 
Ind., and Clyde and Geneva, O., and reached Saratoga 
Springs Aug. 6. Lectured there during August to good 
audiences. September, lectured in Massachusetts and New 
Hampshire, at Keene, and Lunenburg, and Princeton. 
AIL of October I lectured in Springfield, Mass., and made 
arrangements for a temporary home in Worcester, where 
I am writing this book. My wife joined me in this new 
home Oct. 26. On the 31st I closed my lectures in 
Springfield and spoke at the funeral of Mrs. Robinson the 
same day. In November I lectured in Vermont and New 
Hampshire, and visited the old home of my first wife in 
Newport, N.H., and the farms on which I labored from 
my fifteenth to twenty-first years, in Pittsfield, N.H., my 
native town ; and also the spot where once stood the old 
rotten log-house where I was born ; and the cellar (all 
that is left) of the house where my mother died. Saw 
the twelve graves where her earthly remains and those of 
her parents and the rest of the family were buried in the 



THE SPIRITUAL EOSTKUM. 119 

old orchard, with rude granite stones to mark the spots. 
Deep reflections on my long and varied career of life, 
which I never want to pass through again by re-incarna- 
tion ; so please let me pass on, never to be clothed again 
with an earthly body. In December I lectured in Haver- 
hill, Mass., and Troy, N.Y., and closed the year at our 
temporary home in Worcester ; a remarkable year and a 
busy one for me, with many incidents in it not soon to be 
forgotten, but like all of my past years I left it without 
debts, but with nothing saved for old age or sickness ; 
yet spirit friends assure me I shall be provided for — as 
I know I shall when I get over there, where I have so 
many friends that have labored with me here, and many 
who have suffered with me here, for taking part in this 
great work. 

1887.' The fortieth year of my labors in the cause of 
our new gospel was opened in Worcester, at our temporary 
home ; it closes the running years of this narrative, and I 
will leave the rest for more interesting and more valuable 
matter for the readers. Had grand public reception 
on my seventy-fourth birthday, Jan. 5, in Worcester, and 
during January lectured in Woonsocket, Providence, and 
Lynn, and spent remainder of time at home on this book. 
In February, tried to get up lecture in Lawrence, but 
found the place was so nearly given over to Catholicism 
that it was a failure, leaving only a call for mediums and 
phenomena, which in time will save the cause, after which 
it must educate the people on the philosophy. Lost the 
month, and fell behind my expenses largely, and felt quite 
badly, because I had scarcely any reserve after nearly 
forty years' labor, as faithfully done as I was able to do 
it. March was a busy month in Troy and Albany, N.Y., 
and in Haverhill, Mass., and partly repaid me for the loss 
I sustained in February. No person has more fully realized 
that time was his estate than I have, and do to the time 



120 FORTY YEABS ON 

of this writing. Sunday is my harvest day, and when 
that fails, I am short of funds. April was also a busy 
month in Massachusetts. In May, five Sundays were 
filled in Bridgeport, Conn., where I had not lectured for 
over twenty years. June, lectured one Sunday in Wor- 
cester and one in Lunenburg, and then lost the rest of 
the time on which I so much depend. 

July 8, self and wife repaired to Onset camp meeting, 
rooming in Mrs. M. S. Wood's sub-let cottage nicely for 
three weeks, during which time I did my share of the 
talking, and sold a large number of my books. At the 
close of the three weeks I went to Hanson, and had good 
audiences on Sunday, July 31. After a few days at 
home in Worcester, I went to the Sunapee Lake camp, 
Newbury, N.H., where three thousand people gathered. 
On the Sunday I gave two lectures to good acceptance. 
We had a grand success there ; and after a short visit to 
the old home of my first wife, in Newport, N.H., among 
the descendants of her parents, I spent a few days at 
home. At Onset met my esteemed friend Darius Lyman, 
who had for twent\'-four years held a responsible position 
in the United States Treasury, and had just resigned. 
He had been an active Spiritualist all these years, often 
using his pen in defence of Spiritualism. He was the 
teacher of an academy in Michigan before the war, and 
a Spiritualist then, and my children and my son-in-law 
attended his school at Harmonia, Mich. He is one of 
our ablest defenders of mediums and mediumship. 

Returning from Sunapee, I visited Lake Pleasant with- 
out invitation as a speaker. There I remained during 
the two closing days of the session, in the midst of a 
large, enthusiastic, and a quite harmonious gathering, 
considering the many stories told about wrangles there. 
The} 7 had some of our best speakers and mediums in at- 
tendance ; among the former, J. Frank Baxter and C. 



THE SPIRITUAL ROSTRUM. 121 

Fanny Allyn ; and among the latter, Margaret Fox Kane, 
one of the three celebrated Fox girls, in whose presence 
phenomena occurred about forty years ago, that attracted 
world-wide attention, and made for themselves a reputa- 
tion that will endure for many centuries. Margaret as- 
sured me that she was but five years old at the time they 
began talking with the invisibles that made the raps in 
Hydesville, and that her sister Katie, who was the first 
cause of them, was only three, and thus, of course, both 
were incapable of being engaged in such nefarious work 
as has been charged to them by thousands of dishonest 
Christian professors and preachers of sectarian Christian- 
ity. These three sisters have been tested to this day, 
hundreds of times, by the most critical and sceptical 
persons, and have never been detected in any effort to 
deceive, for they never had a necessity or disposition to 
do so. 

Under the presidency of our oldest camp-meeting 
preacher yet living, Dr. Richardson, I addressed the 
largest audience one Sunday, at Sunapee, I had ad- 
dressed this season ; and a more attentive outdoor audi- 
ence I had never met. The grounds were rough, rude, 
natural ; the scenery romantic ; the entire place a delight- 
ful retreat for a Spiritual camp meeting. Here I met one 
sister of my first wife, and several families of later gener- 
ations from the old stock intermarried with congenial 
companions, and all interested in our philosophy ; and I 
visited some of them at their Newport, N.H., homes, and 
enjoyed the visits as in olden times, reviving pleasant 
memories of former years. This visit to New Hampshire 
and its camping-grounds will be remembered long after 
I go to the new camping-grounds on the other side of the 
River Styx. 

By engagement I spent the last two weeks of camping 
season at Queen City Park camp-grounds, in Vermont, on 



122 FORTY YEAKS ON 

the shore of Shelburne Bay, near its entrance into Lake 
Charo plain, two miles from Burlington, on the Vermont 
Central Railroad, and south of the city. This is de- 
cidedly the most picturesque camping-ground yet selected 
in New England, except Temple Heights, in Maine, and 
has the best arranged and most appropriately constructed 
improvements ; but not as extensive or capable of the 
extension or convenience and suitable grounds as Onset 
or Lake Pleasant, and yet sufficiently so for many years, 
and all that can be done in them within that time. We 
had excellent meetings, but not so large as at the other 
grounds, as the season was late, running into September, 
and many had spent all the time and money they could 
spare at the others, and earlier in the season, when heat 
had driven them from the cities ; but those who came to 
Queen City Park were delighted with the scenery, the 
cordiality, the good feeling and hearty welcome given 
them by these genial sons and daughters of Vermont, 
who know as well as any people in the world how to 
make homes happy and comfortable for themselves and 
visitors. Dr. E. A. Smith and wife, Fanny Davis Smith 
of Brandon, Vt., are the leading spirits in this enterprise, 
and deserve great credit for the work they have done, 
seconded and aided by several other families who are 
always present and active in their large cottages, provid- 
ing for visitors, and looking after their comforts. Our 
friends who visit camp-grounds should not miss this beau- 
tiful spot and genial company. Here, Sept. 12, I closed 
my camping season for this year, and left the grounds, 
with many friends, for Keene and Hancock, N.H. In 
the latter place I gave the first lectures, on the facts and 
philosophy of Spiritualism, ever given in the town in a 
public hall, and had good audiences and close attention. 
Two weeks later I spoke in Peterborough, N.H., with 



THE SPIK1TUAL ROSTRUM. 123 

still better success, and more alarm to the churches. 
Oct. 28, 29, and 30, we had a good State convention in 
Plymouth, N.H., and had a real good visit with my cousin 
Hansen Chase and family, himself and wife Spiritualists 
for many years. 

In closing my seventy-fifth year of life, and fortieth on 
the Spiritual rostrum, in November, I spent a week in 
Lowell, Mass., where I had frequently lectured many 
years ago, and had again four good audiences on the last 
two Sundays, and a very pleasant visit with my old and 
esteemed friends Mr. and Mrs. Jacob Nichols, who had 
just celebrated their golden wedding, but only had one of 
their four children, — and she a widow with five children, — 
the other three being in the spirit world. These friends 
and others who formerly attended my lectures are as firm 
in the belief as ever, but many have gone to the better 
life. Among those still lingering here whose companions 
were gone were Mrs. Holbrook, Mrs. Hapgood, Mrs. 
Wood, Mrs. Hume, the two Mrs. Gowards, Mrs. Perrin, 
Mrs. Pillsbury, Mrs. Evans, and several others, showing 
a greater tenacity of life in woman than in man in many 
cases. In December I lectured in Brockton, Mass., for 
the first time ; in Manchester, N.H., one Sunday ; closed 
the month at Troy, N.Y., Sunday, the 25th, and returned 
to Worcester to close the year, but did not see it die out 
there. At Troy we had a grand celebration of Christmas, 
in the elegant hall which the second society had hired for 
the year, nearly two hundred persons taking dinner with 
us in the hall, and all a free gift by the society and 
lyceum. 

In closing my seventy-five years in the paths of labor 
in this field, I received a highly complimentary letter 
from A. J. Davis, with the important fact that MINE was 
the first order received and recorded for several (one 



124 FORTY YEARS ON 

dozen) copies of our first Spiritual book, " Nature's Divine 
Revelation," in 1847, which book I received as soon as 
issued. For an account of my reception on my seventy- 
fifth birthday, and the close of my forty years, see report 
from the Banner of Light, on page 202. 



THE SPIRITUAL ROSTRUM. 125 



CHAPTER VII. 

WHAT I HAVE LEARNED FROM FORTY YEARS' INTERCOURSE 
WITH THE DENIZENS OF THE NEXT SPHERE. 

" I have travelled far and wide, and waited time and tide, 
And have learned a thing or two in my time." 

" Shall I know thee again in the happy land, 
Thon who hast passed to that brighter sphere? " 

' ' The love that unites two hearts in one 
^ Cannot be broken by death ; 
But united again in the heavenly zone 
Shall renew the affections of earth." 

The first, if not the most important truth I have learned, 
and which is now fully confirmed, is, that the condition of 
the mind is not changed immediately b} T death. That the 
deserted case, tenement, or covering of the earthly body, 
is immediately changed for another of different materials, 
made up more or less perfect in form and expression, 
according to the condition of the mind, and that the mind 
resides, acts, works, or plays in that largely as it did in 
the deserted body. Next, that it does not leave the 
locality to which it was attached, nor the persons, objects, 
or business in which it was most deeply interested, until 
either crowded off by indifference on this side or drawn 
away by other attractions. I have learned that those 
with strong and zealous religious beliefs do not suddenly 
lose their faith or change at once their beliefs, although 
they do not see or hear, or know any more of God or Christ 
or the saints than they did here; yet they continue to 
pray in the same faith, and congregate and hold meetings 



126 FOKTY YEARS ON 

and expect the miracles they looked for when here ; and 
when such spirits get en rapport with, or hold control of, 
media, they pray and preach very much as they did when 
in this life, as the}' only change when the mind outgrows 
• its superstitions ; and this pertains to the disciples of other 
religions^ the same as to those of the Christian. Hence 
death does not correct the religious errors much more 
than a removal from one section of this world to another. 
Those who are mentally free from all superstitions are 
there, as here, in the best condition to enjoy existence. 
Buddha of this life is Buddha in spirit life, and Buddhists 
here are Buddhists there. The Mohammed of this life is 
Mohammed there, and Mohammedans here are Moham- 
medans there. Jews here are Jews when they get there, and 
know as little of Jehovah or Christ there as here. Catho- 
lics here are Catholics there. Methodists here are Metho- 
dists there, and engaged in giving such assistance as 
the}' can toward building up the sectarian superstition 
here till they are sufficiently enlightened to leave that 
work. The souls of Catholics are, not many of them, in 
repose, waiting for the resurrection of the body, although 
thousands are expecting it and still believe in the coming 
of Christ and a general resurrection ; as there is the 
same ground there as here on which to found the absurd 
belief, and no more. The Protestant souls are not asleep 
in Jesus, as announced on tombstones, but are awake, 
and still looking and waiting for his appearance with as 
much faith and as little knowledge as when here. What- 
ever superstitious belief is a controlling influence of the 
mind here is the same after death as before for a time ; 
in many minds it is as difficult to get freed from it there 
as here, a change being effected only by growth and 
development. Those poor souls who are relying on Jesus 
to take them into paradise at death are to be pitied, as 
they are terribly disappointed, but still hope on in vain, 



THE SPIRITUAL ROSTRUM. 127 

as there is no more prospect of his appearance there than 
here, where he has been looked for nearly nineteen hun- 
dred years, and in vain. There seems to be a strange 
fatality about many spirits which to me is as yet unex- 
plained and unaccounted for, by which many spirits who 
are driven out of their bodies by murder or violent death, 
in great fright, in which the mind is intensely fixed on 
the place where it takes place, seem to be tethered to 
the locality by some sort of condition till they can be re- 
lieved by some communication with persons in this life. 
There seems to be something of this kind of fatality 
about the poor Arctic explorers who exchange worlds 
among the icebergs and amid the terrors of an Arctic 
winter ; and also something of it in the case of those who 
lose their bodies in mid-ocean, and where no connecting 
line of living persons reunites them with their earthly 
friends on the land. 

Cranks and hobby-riders after death remain for a sea- 
son, long or short according to circumstances, in their 
respective fields of thought and feeling, and attached to 
the object that occupied their minds when in the body. 
Scholars and artists continue attached to what occupied 
their minds when in the body, and if en rapport with a 
sensitive on earth, manifest their peculiar attachment ; 
hence there is no reason why religionists should not be 
governed by the same law, since there is no more of the 
presence of any God in that life than in this. So my 
spirit friends assure me ; and there as here they ridicule 
the absurdity of praying to any personal God. The most 
reliable information I have received, and which is con- 
stantly confirmed and perfectly reliable, is, that there is 
nothing true as taught by an}' sect in Christianity about 
God or devil, bell or heaven, thereby sotting aside the 
whole paraphernalia of the churches and their systems of 
faith as utterly useless, except so far as they induce per- 



128 FORTY YEAKS ON 

sons to live better lives and deal more honestly and 
kindly with their fellow-beings and animals. I have also 
learned that the conversions of criminals after sentence, 
or while waiting for execution, are only valuable as they 
are real changes of purpose in living a better life ; and 
that when they are only dependent on the atonement of 
Christ, they are worthless, as they find on entrance into 
that life ; if their minds are not changed in the course 
of action toward the victim and others, the repentance is 
of no utility to themselves or others. 

As the physical body does not have to be fed in spirit 
life, we are there relieved from many burdens and duties 
pertaining to this life ; but the cravings of the mind are not 
lessened by death. Hence that mental craving for stimu-, 
lants and tobacco are felt there, and bring many spirits 
into close relation with the conditions on earth where 
these cravings were once supplied, and the sufferings of 
such as are subject to these cravings are as intense as in 
this life when not supplied. Persons who starve to death 
for a time suffer the gnawings of hunger ; and if the}' can 
get control of a medium, display a ravenous appetite, but 
only once or twice, as after it is satisfied the mind is 
changed and released. 

I have learned that a natural law of evolution lifts us 
out of this life into a higher and finer element of forms, 
as it does the seeds that germinate in the soil where they 
are planted and covered in, that like the human body in 
gestation they may start in the dark to develop a materi- 
alized form and push up to the higher stratum. As the 
plants cannot blossom and fruit in the soil, so man can- 
not develop his higher and superior life in his earthly 
bocly, but in the spiritual can develop his true character 
of man and womanhood. But I have also learned that 
that life is no more a fixture and no more eternal than 
this, although it may continue in many instancies for 



THE SPIRITUAL ROSTRUM. 129 

many millions of our years, and pass through many 
changes, before another transition, corresponding to the 
one that brought us here, or that termed death, which 
takes us hence, — evolution pertaining to that life the 
same as to this, with its lifting and revolving processes, 
carrying us along there as here. 

I have learned that when persons die they do not be- 
come angels, and are no more so than before death, not 
even priests or so-called saints ; and that the winged crea- 
tures, so often pictured by Christians as angels, are no 
more known to exist in that life than in this, the silly idea 
of angels hovering over us being a matter of ridicule in 
that life : not even the winged devil is known there. 

I have also learned that the location of the spiritual 
globe is immediately over the substance of our globe, and 
the people of that country over their kin in this ; that that 
country corresponds to this mundane plain, with an ex- 
tension over the water, which makes it vastly larger than 
the inhabitable part of the earth, and that it is involved 
with the motions of the earth in its orbit and diurnal mo- 
tions ; that our friends in that life who can communicate 
with us can no more visit the planets and other worlds 
than we can. I have also learned that the transition to 
that life does not enable them to know more about this 
life and the things of earth than we do who live here, and 
that most of what they tell us about the affairs of this 
life is taken from minds in the body with which they 
come en rapport; hence the numerous mistakes in locat- 
ing minerals and other objects in the earth, and in giving 
directions about speculations, in which many have boon 
financially ruined by following the advice of spirits who 
meant no harm, but, like us, are liable to be mistaken. 

Having learned from perfectly reliable testimony that 
the spirit sphere to which we go when we die has no more 
evidence of the existence of gods, devils, heaven, or hell 



130 FORTY YEARS OK 

than this world has, and having found none here, I. have 
never seen any utility in supporting the churches in their 
work of what they call "saving souls." I have also 
learned that the mind, through a spiritual control of this 
body, often performs remarkable feats through it, when 
the external consciousness is utterly gone or at rest, some- 
times in dreams, sometimes in somnambulism, sometimes 
in clairvoyance, and sometimes when controlled psycho- 
logically by another mind. All of which goes to show 
that the mind has an active existence independent of its 
consciousness in the bodily organs, and that conscious- 
ness is incidental, so far as it pertains to the body and its 
organs. 

I have also learned that in what is technically termed 
spirit life the thoughts are depicted on the countenance, 
so that no person can " one thing think and another tell," 
and hence there is no deception practised there between 
spirits, however much may be practised on us mortals by 
one another, or by their playing upon us and taking ad- 
vantage of our confidence, no doubt often amusing them- 
selves at our expense. Long and close observation has 
proved to me that it is useless to ask spirits about busi- 
ness affairs that are wholly mundane, as they give only 
opinions as mortals living here do ; but if they see any- 
thing of importance to us, and they can transmit the im- 
formation to us unsolicited by us, and they give it to us 
in that way, it is best for us to heed it, as in this way we 
often get valuable advice when it comes uncontaminated 
by any action of our minds. There is something about 
the law relating to minds in the body acting upon and 
dealing with disembodied minds, that is not yet well un- 
derstood, but observation has proved to me that our anx- 
iety on any subject makes what we get unreliable, from 
some cause to me as yet unknown ; but I have had many 
reliable messages unexpectedly and unsolicited. 



THE SPIRITUAL ROSTRUM. 131 

So far as I can learn from my friends in the other life, 
their bodies seem to be made up of discreted materials that 
have passed through organic forms on earth, and thereby 
become etherealized, and they seem to be gathered around 
the soul to serve as a case^ in which the mind has its deposi- 
tory as in the brain of the earthly body. It is plain that 
the brain is only a reservoir for the particles or globules of 
mind-element in both bodies, and that only the accumula- 
tions collected in earth life are carried forward to be used 
in commencing the life on the other side. Hence the 
peculiarities, and even idiosyncrasies, of individuals are 
carried forward, by which we identify them in their com- 
munications. That they have forms as real to the miud 
there as here, is certain ; and that these bodies are mate- 
rial is equally certain. A very large majority of the peo- 
ple in this life are wholly absorbed mentally in matters that 
pertain wholly to this life and the body with its surround- 
ings. When such minds are freed from the earthly body, 
the mind has no other food to feed oa, and such persons 
are not happy in spirit life until they can engage the mind 
in something that pertains more directly to that life. 
Such persons are the ones that lay up their treasures in 
this life instead of putting them in the life beyond. "Be- 
fore the world was I am," is true of many human beings, 
but applies to the soul and not to any body, earthly or 
spiritual ; nor to the mind which is collected in the body ; 
nor from particles as the body is, but by the soul, which is 
the ego of every person, of which we so often speak when 
we say, "J make up my mind," or, u I think." Both rea- 
son and spirit testimony teach that a false or heretical re- 
ligious belief is no better than, if as good as, no belief, and 
hence if Catholicism was true, which it is not, all Protes- 
tants are no better situated at death than agnostics or athe- 
ists, if the moral character and conduct of life here is do 
better ; and if any one of the Protestants sects was right, 



132 FORTY YEARS ON 

which no one is, all the others, and the swarms of Catho- 
lics, are no better than atheists at death, as both have to 
become rid of the errors and accept the truth, to realize 
its nature and enjoy its blessings. According to all testi- 
mony, superstition of any kind is a very great incum- 
brance and obstruction to progress. Thomas Paine is in 
a vastly superior condition in that life, and was upon en- 
tering it, to Cotton Mather and Jonathan Edwards ; and 
Abner Kneelancl far better situated than those who perse- 
cuted and imprisoned him in Boston for telling the truth, 
which, they said, he had a right to believe, but not to ex- 
press, and for which no God would punish him, but bigots 
would, and did. 

The erroneous idea many persons entertain of the spirit 
world lead to many a blunder in the intercourse, they 
seeming to think that when a spirit is freed from its body, 
it can at once see and find any spirit that has preceded it 
to that life, as if it was only a small village ; but those 
that go find it a region many millions of times larger than 
the habitable portion of the earth ; and as each person is 
limited to his or her personality and locality, with eyes 
and ears confined to the spirit body, as in this life to the 
physical, they find it far more difficult to find persons 
in that vast region than in this more limited sphere of 
life ; the only advantage there, being a much easier and 
cheaper mode of travel. A spirit inquiring for some 
person who was distinguished in this life may not be able 
to find any one who knew him or her, and no one who 
can tell where such person can be found. Those who 
hunt for Jesus are surely disappointed, as no one who 
went from this part of the earth has been able to find him. 

Another popular error about that life is that a spirit, as 
soon as free from its earthly bod}^, can see into our con- 
dition of body and our surroundings, and advise us what 
to do to cure physical maladies, and give us valuable 



THE SPIRITUAL ROSTRUM. 133 

advice about our business affairs, when, in fact, with the 
exception of a clearer perception and relation with our 
minds and other minds, it can come en rapport with, he 
or she can give us no better advice than before. Sur- 
geons and skilful physicians, who carry with them knowl- 
edge of the bodies of earth, can see more clearly the 
ailments, and can prescribe from knowledge gained when 
on earth, provided we can engage them ; but there is no 
currency except love and sympathy with which they can 
be paid, and it is not all persons that can interest such as 
can assist us in this life ; hence maladies and diseases do 
not all disappear under spirit guidance that could be re- 
lieved by them. We are often asked what is the occupa- 
tion in spirit life, and so far as I can learn, the mind 
aspires there as here, or grovels in useless absurdities. 
Persons in this life who have every comfort that wealth 
can procure, and whose minds do not soar above fancy 
dresses, balls, theatres, and eating and drinking, will not 
be likely to soar much higher on entering a mental state 
where the mind has no higher inducement than it has here 
where higher objects are abundant. It is estimated on 
very good authority that about one-third of the cases of 
insanity are obsessions, by spirits who in this world had 
no higher ideas of life or ambition than what they get by 
this partial control of human bodies, which double action, 
the two individualities often conflicting, induces us to call 
them insane and shut them up in asylums. It is quite 
evident that a large part of the religious insanity is of 
this kind, — obsession by religious bigots and fanatics, 
who have been released from their bodies, and, terribly 
disappointed, are seeking the old channel of mental relief. 
With the mental condition and personal relations un- 
changed so far as the affections are concerned, death pro- 
duces but little more than a release from physical pain 
and release from involuntary bondage. When the mental 



134 FOKTY YEARS ON" 

bondage is involuntary, as in most cases of religious 
slavery, especially in the Catholic Church, where igno- 
rance binds the victims, it is no release. To the free- 
minded spirit it is a grand release from the earthly load 
when that load is a burden. We are not sure yet whether 
persons who are the subjects of strong delusions are 
psychologized by spirits, or work up the delusion in their 
own minds from their conditions and surroundings. Many 
of the popes really believe they are superior in their in- 
fallibility to other mortals, and continue in this belief 
after death for a period sometimes short and sometimes 
long. Swedenborg honestly believed he was an especial 
messenger of the Lord to reveal a revelation that was no 
revelation until he revealed its meaning, and is none yet 
to ninety-nine out of every hundred that read the Word 
of God's revelation. He was not at once undeceived by 
changing spheres. Luther, Calvin, Fox, Wesley, John 
Murray, Alexander Campbell, and a score of others, each 
became infatuated with an idea that they had discovered 
a meaning to this revelation that had been hidden before 
from mankind, to whom it was given by God, who could 
not put the meaning within their reach until these inspired 
messengers were employed to reveal it ; and still it is as 
much a mystery as ever to the great body of readers, 
many of whom became in some way infatuated by it. 

Several persons have believed themselves to be a re- 
embodiment of Jesus ; but I have never heard of one who 
claimed to have come through an immaculate conception ; 
and one man I knew who stoutly maintained that he was 
Jehovah, living among men to learn their ways and ac- 
tions. How long these and other delusions remain after 
death I have not learned, but so far as I can learn they 
are not freed from them nor from any others by death, 
but only by evolution and growth in that life as in this. 
Where a defect is purely physical, and results from in- 



THE SPIRITUAL ROSTRUM. 135 

jury to the nerves or brain, we are told that the change 
very soon restores the mind to its normal and healthy 
action. Idiots and infants grow into mental man and 
womanhood there, the latter slowly and often far more 
harmoniously than here, and the former start as infants, 
and have no advantage from this life, but lose only the 
time spent here. It is an important item to learn that 
the spirit life has no more connection with the gods of 
any system of religion than this life has, nor they with it, 
but that theories and beliefs are held, and ceremonies are 
performed there in faith, hope, and belief, as here, while 
the gods and their thrones and kingdoms are as remote 
from that life as from this. Nature and her law of evo- 
lution works in the human mind there as here, which all 
ought to know before they go there. We are fully as- 
sured that persons who leave their affairs of this world 
in an entangled or unsatisfactory condition have more 
trouble with and about them after death than before, and 
often regret that they had not adjusted them satisfactorily 
before they passed to the new life ; and we further learn 
that many persons of large fortunes deeply regret the 
disposal they made of them, and for a long time do so, 
because they cannot correct the mistakes made in the dis- 
posal of earthly wealth. 

Speaking at Onset (Mass.) camp meeting, in July, 1887, 
on what I had learned that I did not know in early life, 
I stated that this life is eternal life as much as any, and 
that we are as much in eternity now as we ever shall be, 
and as much in eternal life as we can ever be, enjoying 
and suffering proportionately a heaven or hell as wo shall 
after death, varying only under the law of evolution and 
circular and angelic changes. Accepting for each human 
soul the old passage of Scripture, " Before the world was. 
lam"; treating the souir as a unit both indivisible and 
indestructible, and hence eternal, of course having no 



136 FORTY YEARS ON 

beginning as well as no ending, which must be true if it 
has eternal life, as neither the earthly or spiritual body 
can, as they are subject to growth and change in both 
worlds, being an aggregation of parts and particles, both 
mental and physical. The mind like the body being 
gathered, packed, or stored for the use of the soul, the 
divine essence or the ego of each one of us, and of all 
organic forms that have mind or life in bodies that grow 
and decay. 

Among the facts I have observed and noted, that few 
seem to observe, is that those who report as ancient per- 
sons whose names are familiar to us as distinguished 
leaders in any department of life, are in about the same 
condition mentally as when on earth, and largely teach the 
same theories and ideas as when on earth, and which they 
left in their writings, sometimes slightly modified by the 
advanced knowledge and theories of this life. Confucius 
and Jesus have not improved on the morals reported as 
coming from them when on earth. Solon and Pythagoras 
report nearly the same philosophy as taught by them when 
here, and Socrates has the same rational philosophy. 
Paul, Cicero, and Demosthenes have not improved in ora- 
tory, and the musicians and painters hold just about the 
same as when here to the work that attracted them. We 
are told that as they come down into living human organ- 
isms they cannot show their superiority and spiritual 
growth. If so, what advantage do we get from their 
visits, and what do they get or give us that we did not 
have before, and how can we know or even have reason 
to believe they are the persons they represent themselves 
to be ? The medium cannot know ; and as we are familiar 
with the teachings they left here, we cannot prove but that 
they may be other spirits who were familiar as we are 
with these teachings. In some instances we have had 
variations and more ridiculous stories about the works 



THE SPIRITUAL ROSTRUM. 137 

and ways of God, of creation, and the early history of the 
earth and man like that of " Oahspe," as strangely absurd 
as Bible stories, and of course no more reliable. Many 
people are strangely infatuated with marvels and marvel- 
lous stories, especially if accompanied with some ancient 
and distinguished name ; and spirits know this as well as 
we do ; and, like De Witt Talmage, who knows better, 
take advantage of this confidence and faith and play upon 
the credulity of honest people. Such I am led to believe 
to be a large part of what purports to come from ancient 
spirits. I do not say all, for some is rational and con- 
sistent with the progress of this world which peoples the 
other, and peoples it with such intelligences as we have 
here; and so far as I can learn, they keep very nearly 
in the line of our progress and knowledge here. 

It seems that some who report as ancient spirits advo- 
cate reincarnation, as some ancient sages did when here, 
and yet they report as the same persons not yet reincar- 
nated, although they say they lived here many hundreds 
or thousands of years ago. I have never been able to 
learn from any spirit advocating reincarnation what dis- 
position is made of the spirit body, which they all claim 
to be as real and tangible and of about the same stature 
as here. I have asked if it is cremated or buried, and 
how they get out of it and into the cell where earthly 
bodies begin ; but none answer, as it is a theory that 
cannot bear criticism. We often meet persons in this 
life who claim to know from memory that they have lived 
here before, but that is easily explained by spiritual 
psychology, in which a spirit may leave the impress 
on the mind of a sensitive of events that transpired in 
his or her life, or even of incidents known of another, 
and so impress it as to enable the person to feel that he 
or she had really lived it and done it in a former life. 
Under such circumstances the memory they purport to 



138 FORTY YEARS ON 

have of a prior existence on earth is no evidence. I have 
not been able to get any to convince me of its truth. 

I have found that persons who used profane language 
while in this life for a time use it in that, or as they re- 
turn through mediums, and see no reason why they should 
not, as there is no restraint there that does not exist here ; 
and the same is true of vulgar and ungrammatical lan- 
guage ; and those who had a very imperfect manner of 
expressing ideas here retain it for a long time after death, 
as the schools there are not educational to them in the 
use of our language. I learn that they have schools 
there, but not like ours, but differing in many respects, 
and much better. I also learn that they enjoy swimming, 
bathing, sports, and many games there as we do here, in 
their societies and groups, ranged and associated accord- 
ing to their moral, social, and intellectual development, 
and in which the enjoyment is also proportional to these 
qualities. 

From all the hundreds of denizens of the spirit life, 
and many of them who possessed a good degree of in- 
telligence here and have not lost it, I learn that there is 
no more evidence there than with us here that any such 
person as Jesus, the Christ of the Christians, ever lived 
as a man on earth and was crucified by the Jews, who 
never used that mode of execution. As a God or god- 
man no one can find him, although there as here many 
believe he lived, and are waiting for him to appear, and 
these are sometimes imposed on by imposters, who take 
advantage of their credulity and faith, It is now a well- 
established fact that some spirits have been trying for 
many centuries to open a general intercourse between the 
two states of existence, and have been invariably beaten 
back by the clergy and religious teachers, when they 
could not utilize the messages or phenomena in aid of 
their own purposes and for their control of the religious 



THE SPIRITUAL. ROSTRUM. 139 

element in human nature. It is a great mistake to sup- 
pose spirit intercourse began with the " Rochester knock- 
ing^," or Hydesville raps, or that it began with A. J. Davis 
and the remarkable and beautiful as well as truthful mes- 
sages that came through him in the early years of his 
mission. It is equally an error to suppose that Sweden- 
borg opened the arcana of the heavenly spheres, and still 
as great an error to give Jesus and his disciples, including 
the agnostic Paul, the credit : and still an error to sup- 
pose these revelations started with the Jewish Scriptures, 
however much or little of spirit messages are in all of 
these. But it is certain that all except that which came 
through Davis since he began has been perverted and 
used by priests to build up sectarian institutions on earth 
and carry them into the other life to react on this, which 
they have effectually done. We have broken their power 
at last, and they cannot stop the progress the work is 
making, although thev as usual are striving to either 
suppress or control it for the same selfish and ambitious 
purposes ; but it has already gone too far. and is in the 
hands and hearts of too many people, whom they cannot 
control ; and the constantly increasing variety of modes 
of reaching us with evidence of their presence and with 
the transmission of intelligence which is daily and hourly 
refuting the sectarian teachings about the condition of the 
other life and the people who go there from this, is 
making it impossible for them to either suppress or con- 
trol it. It is certain that the Greeks had me— 
early as the Jews that were equally sacred and far better 
in morals and justice ; the Persians and Hindoos still 
earlier, and Egypt perhaps as early as any : but then as 
in Jewish and Christian times they were monopolized by 
the priests. The ancient messages that came through 
mediums in the temple at Delphoe and other temj 
were undoubtedly from spirits who, although attached to 



140 FORTY YEARS ON 

the nations and peoples to which they belonged when on 
earth, and usually communicated to them and through 
them, yet in an age of intelligence like ours, and when 
priests could not control them, would have soon opened a 
general intercourse such as we have now, that might long 
ago have removed the superstitions of all religious sects 
and doctrines, and given to the world a rational theory 
of another life based on this and evolution. Herein we 
see the evil influence of a priesthood, which in all ages 
has been an. obstruction and stumbling-block to human 
progress and knowledge, and has ever, as it does now, 
stood in the way of all scientific discoveries that would 
remove its errors and enlighten the people. Since we 
have ascertained that the spirit world in correspondence 
with this is supplied exclusively by emigrants from this 
life, with no more and no less number of gods, devils, 
and angels with wings, and other beings than those around 
us here, and that they are governed by the same divine 
and universal law as we are, we have no use for preachers 
to interpret messages as words of God, and affix their 
mysterious meanings to them to frighten the ignorant into 
subjection. It is now time to rationalize religion and 
leave out the personal gods and words attributed to them, 
which they never spoke, and never could, as they have no 
existence withiti*the reach of earthly intelligence. 

For the first time in our world's history we have a 
rational system, theory, and revelation of a future life, 
as a continued or renewed existence after death, and it 
is based on correspondence with the denizens of that 
country, and in harmony with nature, reason, and evolu- 
tion. It is not disturbed by any of the hundreds of 
personal gods mankind have feared and worshipped as 
ruling over a spirit world with terrific power, and greater 
severity than any tyrant on earth has ever shown, to 
which our orthodox God is no exception. It is now cer- „ 



THE SPIRITUAL ROSTRUM. 141 

tain that no words have come to earth's inhabitants from 
any personal God, and none could come from any but a 
personal source. It is equally certain that no revelation 
has been made to our race from any source above or 
superior to itself ; but that human beings have carried 
their mental attainments, theories, and beliefs, and their 
personal and local attachments through death, and often 
when they could find conditions favorable have given 
advice according to their feelings and the interest they 
had in this life in their nation or kindred ; and it is prob- 
able they may have in some instances carried their object 
so far as to create insanity, and even lead persons to commit 
crimes. From all this and much more we should learn 
to treat them as we would if they were still denizens of 
this life ; and when they talk nonsense, give it the same 
weight and be influenced by it as lightly as we would if 
from earthly source. 

It is now believed by many intelligent thinkers that 
each organic form on our earth has an immortal soul, 
which makes up the form from particles within its reach. 
This theory supersedes the old Christian theory that the 
Jewish and Christian Gods make every human child 
directly, and indirectly every animal form. This new 
theory is that all souls with sufficient power, whether 
original or attained, secrete and develop new bodies in 
the finer and eliminated matter that has passed through 
organic life and been discreted sufficiently to form bodies 
that exist in the fourth dimension of space, which to us 
is the spirit world. How far this extends to the animal 
species is not yet demonstrated, but many believe the 
domestic animals put in an appearance there among their 
earthly friends. This is only one more step out of the 
old superstitious absurdities of Christian theories of crea- 
tion and the origin of life and forms of organic existence. 
These theories teach that God made the plants and ani- 



142 FORTY YEARS ON 

mals for man's use, and man for his own use, to praise and 
glorify him ; and yet the old theories gave man no exist- 
ence where the gods lived eternally ; not even Christianity 
until lately, for it taught a resurrection of bodies and life 
eternal on the earth, renewed with a new heaven, so 
changed as to be adapted to an eternal life, in which there 
should be no more of that sexual sin which Adam and 
Eve committed, and by which they let sin into this world, 
and caused God to drown most of the race once to put a 
stop to it, which experiment failing to accomplish his pur- 
pose, he sent his son to make arrangements for a resur- 
rection and restoration of all things to purity which is to 
be done at some indefinite time, in an infinite future, by fire, 
as our Adventists teach. This view is very near the doc- 
trine of the primitive Christians, which, so far as it refers 
to a future life, is only a bundle of absurdities ; but so far 
as it teaches morals for this life, is good, and in many 
'' respects suitable to live by, though wholly unfit to die bj*, 
as any such belief is a burden in the next life, as odious 
as the fabled one of Bunyan's Pilgrim in the Slough of 
Despond. The new light and life which Spiritualism has 
revealed to us, based as it is on nature, science, and the 
law of evolution, gives us a rational, consistent, and glo- 
rious opening for the future, where we can achieve our 
own glory, and work out our own destiny, and have 
., plenty of time to do it, instead of praising a God that 
could not deserve if he needed our praise. Farewell to 
old theories. 

It seems extremely difficult, even with science, to erad- 
icate from the minds of the people the errors, fables, fol- 
lies, and absurd ideas of a future state of existence, in 
which nearly the entire population of what are called 
Christian countries, have been educated by an interested 
clergy, aided by the psychological influence of pious 
mothers, acting on the children before and after birth. 



THE SPIRITUAL ROSTRUM. 143 

All liberalized individuals are aware of this, and hence 
deal cautiously with these strong forces of resistance to 
the newly discovered truth of an intercourse that opens 
the other life to us, and sets aside all of their crude 
notions of a physical resurrection, and of a heaven where 
God reigns as a king, with Christ and his mother as as- 
sistants ; and of a hell where a devil reigns as king, with 
millions of assistants who visit this world to deceive and 
capture the children of God, and get them into endless 
misery with himself, which could be no satisfaction ex- 
cept in gratifying his hatred of a God he does not seem 
to fear or avoid. The middle ground, or purgatorial 
condition of spirits after death, as taught by Catholics, 
may, with essential modifications, be accepted in the new 
discovery, but without the requirement of masses said 
for those in trouble there. We now know that the life 
after death is simply a result of the natural law of evolu- 
tion, lifting up the mind and soul one step higher in the 
scale of existence, each one carrying forward whatever 
of jewels or rubbish he or she has collected mentally in 
this stage of existence, being in a condition to learn there 
as here, with no more or less of a tyrannical God or devil 
than there is here, and no more or less of divine assist- 
ance or presence. It is a terrible act to take all of these 
patent weapons from our clergy and leave them with the 
husks and straw of a theological education, to be burned 
out by the fire of truth in the hands of those who know 
the truth about the world and life beyond the gate of 
death. 

The difference in human life in the two worlds or 
spheres of existence is very slight, except that that is 
mental, while this is both mental and physical, and the 
physical affects the mental here largely, while there the 
mental controls the spiritual form in locality and transfer, 
at least so far as I can learn from the testimony of those 



144 FORTY YEARS ON 

who live there. In opinions, theories, speculations, and 
feelings, likes and dislikes, attractions and affections, the 
two spheres are nearly the same and equally changeable 
from similar causes. This accounts for religious and 
orthodox opinions and theories returned to us from that 
state of existence by those who live there. Why it should 
not be so I can see no reason, and why it should I can 
see plenty of evidence in the law of mental evolution, 
which law is as applicable to minds as to organic forms 
on our planet. The mind evidently is a collection of 
elemental particles collected and arranged into the indi- 
vidual here, and passes intact to the next stage of being, 
where it assists the soul in forming the spiritual body and 
gives an expression to it according to its condition, which 
is partially true in this life and in the earthly body, where 
we can see sorrow or joy, grief or anger, orthodoxy or 
free thought depicted on the countenance of many per- 
sons. Good judges often assert that they can tell by the 
looks of a congregation whether they are Universalists or 
Orthodox. 

Of the length, breadth, and thickness of the spirit 
sphere in which our race live on leaving this life, I can- 
not learn from them, but they seem rather to be like the 
earlier races and generations of this world who had not 
surveyed it. How far into the infinite extension they can 
go I know not, and I do not see how they can measure 
as we do by miles and furlongs, and they do not seem to. 
How far toward the other planets they can go and not get 
out of the motion of the earth, and thus lose their locality 
on it, no one has told me ; but man} T vague and ridiculous 
theories have been given, and some published, which evi- 
dently came from the minds of spirits, but do not appear 
based on facts or knowledge more than the fictions in the 
new bible called " Oahspe," a spiritual work. 



THE SPIRITUAL ROSTRUM. 145 

Guardian Spirits. — Much has been much written, and 
more said, about guardian spirits, yet very little seems to 
be known about them. So far as I can learn, most per- 
, sons have personal friends or interested relatives in spirit 
life, some one of whom is usually so far in sympathy with 
him or her as to be called a guardian spirit, and so much 
en rapport as to be able to often control the acts or even 
the thoughts of the friend in the body ; many times there 
is good evidence that thoughts are injected into the mind 
that lead to actions for which we cannot account on any 
other principle. What we call imagination is no doubt 
often produced by some spirit en rapport with the thinker 
that imagines. Dreams are also often the work of spirits 
influencing some organs of the brain, and causing broken 
fragments of mental consciousness while the organs are 
mostly at rest. There is little doubt that we shall in a 
few more years the better understand the true nature of 
spiritual impressions, and then more generally heed the 
admonitions of our guardian friends, if they can properly 
be called guardians. It seems abundantly established 
that no one spirit watches over any one of us all of the 
time ; but that different ones are at times the watchers, — 
coming and going as our needs and their other duties 
require. It would seem that in that life, with its great 
variety of attractions and the varied interests for all its 
denizens, they would find more congenial and profitable 
employment than following us round in our daily avoca- 
tions, when they find it difficult to influence us for our 
good ; if that is the object of the guardianship, I am fully 
satisfied that some of my friends in that life often visit 
me and often try to impress me with what they think is 
best for me to do; but it is extremely difficult for me to 
know r what, and when they inject thoughts or wish to con- 
trol my actions, and hence I may not heed them. 

It is a well-settled fact that many spirits who are not 



146 FORTY YEARS ON 

guardians to any :>ne are mentally turned downward to 
the earth and its inhabitants, seeking control of mortals, 
to get hold of earth life again, and many of us think that 
a large part of the insanity is from this partial control, 
which we call obsession, and in this mixed control of the 
brain unfits both for a rational life in either sphere. In 
•the control of mediums we see their unfitness for this life 
when under the control of spirits ; and if it remained, our 
wise M.D.'s and D.D.'s would have them in asylums very 
soon. We have much to learn about the other life yet to 
fit us to live there, and not torment the denizens of this 
sphere. There is, no doubt, a great variety of obses- 
sions, some partial and some complete, and most, if not 
all, injurious to the parties obsessed, at least so far as this 
life is concerned. I have watched the insane (incurables) 
at the asylum in Worcester, my windows being nearly 
opposite its grounds, and was satisfied that at least one- 
half of them were obsessed by undeveloped spirits who 
though not evil spirits, were ignorant of what they were 
doing, and had got back to the condition of eating and 
drinking through the organism of the obsessed person, and 
deranged the normal actions of that person. They all 
seemed harmless, so far as I could see, but, of course, 
if an evil-disposed spirit gets control of the body of a 
mortal, he might do mischief, and some day we may learn 
that many crimes are committed under such influence, and 
we shall thus through hard experience be taught to be 
more charitable, and to do all we can to prepare all for a 
higher plane of existence before they are called hence. 
We have positive proof now that human nature is not 
depraved, for the influence of all children that return is 
harmless, and not even mischievous, the evil not being 
inherited even, but educated by society, its surroundings, 
our wicked institutions, and corrupting systems of relig- 
ion, which hold up no punishment for crimes after death 



THE SPIRITUAL ROSTRUM. 147 

Sf repentance and faith in forgiveness is obtained before 
the culprit, however wicked, leaves this world. 

When we become as familiar with the presence of spirits, 
and learn the condition of their life as we have the nature 
of this, then we shall deal with them and treat them as we 
do the citizens of this life, taking only those for guides 
and teachers who are qualified to guide or teach us, select 
our associates, and not consider all spirits as angels or 
devils, but, like ourselves, good, bad, and indifferent, and 
no longer wonder why spirits do not always guard us or 
guide us aright more than our teachers and guides do 
here. Then we shall no longer submit to the foolish and 
absurd teachings of our priests about that world and 
the life there, but know it is simply an extension of this 
life with the earthly part sloughed off. 

It is quite evident to me, after long and careful study 
of the subject, that ancient personal gods, as well as the 
present, so far as they had or have any existence, were 
spirits so related to the nations that worshipped them, 
that they often did order and direct the cruel wars and 
persecutions attributed to them. In no other way can I 
account for the barbarities of the Jews, under the direc- 
tion of their god and our Jehovah, or those of the Greeks 
and Romans, as well as other older nations. As we now 
know there are bad men who go into the spirit world, and 
have no more restraint there than here, except the impos- 
sibility of deceiving their fellow-beings there, we may at 
once conclude that in the old barbarous times there were 
persons equally so, and of limited knowledge and no wis- 
dom, who, finding they could not rule them, sought medi- 
ums here, and used them to rule, so far as they could, on 
earth and over nations. Such, I think, wore the gods of 
Israel, Babylon, and Egypt. In due time spirit inter- 
course will unravel many of the mysteries of ancient 
times, and we shall find out that nations had guardian 



148 FORTY YEARS ON 

spirits whom they worshipped as gods, as some weak 
minds now are inclined to regard such spirits as saints or 
angels, if not gods, and place implicit confidence in them, 
when in reality they are no more gods or angels than their 
earthly neighbors. Time will let in the light. 

If it was, as I believe, the word of a spirit that came 
to Isaiah, Jeremiah, Rebecca, and many other Bible char- 
acters, and led Samuel to hew down Agag, and Samuel 
that really spoke to Saul and told the truth ; and if it was 
materialized spirits that came and talked with Abraham 
and Lot, and a spirit that gave old Job up to a more 
wicked spirit to torment him out of spite to the guardian 
that gave him up, and a spirit that obsessed Samson and 
saved Daniel from the lions, and three spirits that stood 
in the fiery furnace, then we can look back to still more 
marvellous and far more cruel acts of spirits in those bar- 
barous days than any we have now, and yet we have some 
marvels and some cruelties even now, but do not attribute 
them to a god. It is plain that spirits infested the 
temple of Apollo at Delphos, and controlled the Sybils 
in Rome, and the soothsayers, and why not the prophets 
and seers or clairvoyants of Jerusalem? To me it is 
evident that nations have guardian spirits as well as indi- 
viduals, and that these were the gods that took part in 
the wars of Greece and Troy, as well as those of the Jews, 
and for which each nation had names as their gods — 
Jupiter and Mars and the Jewish Yahwe (Jehovah) , Lord 
or Lord God, and the Christians have taken the Jewish 
names for their gods — but how far these have become the 
guardian spirits of Christian sects is not clear. Neither 
those of the Greeks or Jews were able to save their 
nations from being conquered and scattered ; nor is it 
probable that the gods of any Christian sect can do better 
with their wards, but, like the guardian spirits of indi- 



THE SPIRITUAL ROSTRUM. 149 

viduals, are often defeated in their efforts by others more 
powerful and working against them. 

Jefferson Davis and his associates, he being a Chris- 
tian, called on the old Jewish God for help, but he was as 
powerless there as with the Jews, if he was there ; but it 
is more likely that Calhoun and Jackson or some other 
slave advocates were the guardian and inspiring spirits 
of that government and of their battles. It is quite ex- 
tensively believed that Stonewall Jackson was a medium 
and assisted by some guardian spirit, and no doubt others 
on both sides were partially controlled. Lincoln was 
advised at least by some of the guardian spirits of our 
nation, and when he by such advice issued his emanci- 
pation proclamation, victory was from that day assured, 
as it was evidently the intention of our guardian spirits 
that slavery should go down with the Rebellion. There 
is much more of this kind of foreign interference with our 
affairs than we are aware of. That Napoleon was con- 
trolled by some ancient warrior is quite well established ; 
and some day he may control some other, or perhaps has ; 
and no doubt some one did Sheridan and others of our 
generals in their great feats. War spirits are still inter- 
ested in wars, and peace spirits in peace ; the old popes 
in the Church of Rome, and Luther and Calvin in their 
work of overthrowing it. Wesley and Fox and Murray 
are still engaged in the progress of religion, as they were 
when on earth, and Thomas Paine is as zealous as ever 
in rooting out tyranny and superstition. Why should 
they not be? Their work is not done more than ours, 
and we are all working in our respective spheres. That 
the leaders of each sect of Christians become, for a time 
after passing to spirit life, the guardian spirits of that 
sect, is plain enough; and as they advance and outgrow 
their creeds and dogmas, they go on, and others take their 
places. This is also true of individuals, as in my own case 



150 FORTY YEARS ON 

a mother, who for many years was a guardian spirit and 
almost alone in the care, has long since given up to others, 
and gone on in her studies of the life beyond and into 
other work. If this is irrational, I cannot see it. Such 
at least is what is taught me. We see in all of these 
cases of national or sectarian gods, which are only guar- 
dian spirits, fallibility and repeated failures. We are 
daily assured in speeches and messages from our zealous 
workers in the temperance cause and in evangelican and 
sectarian work that their "gods" are on their side and 
working with them, and I do not doubt it ; but they are 
only guardian spirits, and often fail, as is to be seen in 
both of these cases. Their error is in claiming almighty 
power for their gods, when they are as finite, and work as 
the mortal workers here, and have others there to contend 
with, the same as here, for both and all sides have spirit 
aid and counsel indirectly if not directly. The prayers 
only reach these guides and often bring response in the 
minds and feelings of the prajing parties that encourage 
them to act, and yet the expected effect does not follow 
in many cases, even though the spirits join in the effort 
to bring it about. In time we shall all learn that the two 
worlds may co-operate, but both joined cannot overcome 
a natural law or change the fate that is in that law. God 
is outside all these feeble and finite efforts of mortals and 
spirits, and has no partiality for either, and gives no 
special assistance to any government of either world, nor 
to any creed or system of religion more than to a form 
of government. 

This subject of guardian spirits, which involves the 
whole catalogue of personal gods of all ages as well as 
national sectarian leaders, is one of much significance, and 
has been as yet but little studied or treated upon, but in 
time will solve many mysteries and open the eyes of 
many intelligent thinkers to a law of causes that has 



THE SPIRITUAL BOSTRUM. 151 

puzzled theologians in all past times. Why their gods 
did not do as they requested and expected, and as he 
promised, has ever been a mystery, and this solves it. 
Two nations or two persons, each aided by guardian spirits 
in war or personal conflict, cannot both conquer ; and, 
when both pray to the same god, the vanquished must find 
some excuse for the god they relied on ; this view of their 
finite power and weakness explains it. Injustice and wick- 
edness have often triumphed in this life, as all know ; and 
yet we are told a God of love rules. If this be so, and he 
suffers an evil like drunkenness to exist, then it is right, 
and there is no propriety in fighting against such a god ; 
but if we are contending against the spirits of dissipated 
mortals transferred to the other life, there is use in the 
work as much as if they were here. In the conflict with 
intemperance we are constantly assured by the Woman's 
Christian Temperance Union that their cause is the cause 
of God and Christ, and all of the prayers are offered on their 
side, — I never heard one or heard of one on the other 
side, — yet intemperance and license and saloons prevail, 
and we ask, Where is the power of Christ manifest? 

Sexuality in Spirit Life. 

That sexuality is retained in spirit life is as certain as 
is the fact of that existence ; its complete recognition in the 
minds here carrying it out in the spirit form. The peculiar 
characteristic of each individuality, so far as it pertains to 
the mind, must also be retained and renewed for a time 
after death. As the spiritual world is mainly a mental world, 
and but slightly physical, those w T hose sexual mentality 
ran in the physical and sensual channel of thong! it 
feeling are as miserable as those whose minds were abso- 
lute in the use of tobacco and liquors ; and they have to 
hang round the earthly dens of vice as the others do round 



152 FORTY YEARS ON 

saloons and dens of tobacco smoke ; while those whose 
mental sexuality reached out to the higher and holier re- 
lations of affectionate and conjugal life, and now find a 
higher and holier treasure-house in the spiritual life than it 
is possible to reach in this. Perverted passions, like per- 
verted appetites, lead downward in that life as in this, and 
sensuality, like profanity, clings to its victims after death. 
If it is rooted out of the mind before death, the work is 
done here ; if not, it must be done there before true 
sexual life can begin. As each person is known there 
just as he or she is mentally in thought, there is no 
chance for the sensual to deceive the pure ; and when 
the earthly body is destroyed in which the passions 
reigned and found a satisfaction, as the drunkard does 
in liquors, the mind is no longer satisfied, and in both 
cases seeks the earth for the lost gratification, but is not 
satisfied there, and cannot be. 

A true knowledge of sexual life in the spirit world is 
among the most important items to be taught in this life, 
as it would do more to remove immorality and licentious- 
ness than any other moral force ever applied to them. 
Such, to a less extent, is true of the use of tobacco and 
alcoholic liquors ; but we must get our lessons from those 
who are above these debasing vices, and were when they 
went there, and can see clearly the contrast. 

According to all testimony, propagation is confined to 
this stage of life and on this planet ; but it seems to be 
fully established that some pass into that life that were 
not naturally born into this, but none before the human 
form was outlined in gestation, and the animal changed 
to the human. That the human form in gestation is pre- 
ceded by that of several species of animals seems to be 
admitted by scientists, and this is used by some as a proof 
that the race derives its forms and existence from the ani- 
mal ; but I am not satisfied that this is an evidence sum*- 



THE SPIRITUAL ROSTRUM. 153 

cient to establish it as a fact, and I have seen no other 
evidence as good as this. That propagation is confined to, 
and ceases with this life, does not prove that any other or 
further conjugal relations of the sexes cease at death, nor 
that there are no conjugal affinities in the other life, 
although the words attributed to Jesus may be true, that 
there is no marrying in heaven nor giving in marriage. 
Of course there are no such marriages as we have here, 
which are frequently consummated in deception and soon 
lead to legal divorces, however much there may be of 
mutual and voluntary separations after long or short 
periods of happiness. That those husbands and wives 
who are mutually attached and each satisfactory to the 
other in this life, and both remain so till the death of 
each, meet and enjo}" a higher and holier union in that life 
is to me a well authenticated statement ; while those who 
have not been happy in that relation here will be released 
by death is equally sure ; but how far each will find a 
congenial mate will depend much on the condition of 
mind. If sensuality rules the mind on sexual affairs, 
there is no peace or spiritual mating there in it. 

In this life a very large part of sexual life is sensual, 
which, owing to the physical masks and deception, is not 
apparent on the surface of individuals or society. In the 
next life, where no such masks can be worn, and no one 
can deceive another, this social vice sinks to its proper 
level, and its votaries are cast out of good societ}\ In 
this life people often misjudge the motives of others, and 
often judge them by their own feelings and desires. No 
such mistakes occur in spirit life, where the interiors be- 
come the exteriors and the inmost thoughts are radiated on 
the features. 

Death will be a sad disappointment to many persons, 
especially those who here put their faith and trust in 
Christ, and those who have lived sensual lives here and 



154 FORTY YEARS ON 

relied on Christ to cleanse them from their sins, and who 
have not cleansed themselves, which a mere repentance will 
not do. The soul, which is the divine essence in us, col- 
lects and organizes the body without any action of the 
mind, for there is no -mind with us as individuals at the 
time ; and certainly the minds of the earthly parents do 
nothing about it for some time after the act of conception, 
and not until birth, except in the psychological effect of 
the mother, and that is usually involuntary. When the 
soul has completed the body, with the effects of the moth- 
er's psychological action on it, or in it, and brought it out 
into the sunlight and air, the soul starts its new forces in 
the act of breathing, and propelling the blood, and taking 
in food through the mouth, which had not been used before. 
None of these actions can be attributed to the mind, for 
the new-born babe has no mind ; but as a depository has 
been made for it in brain, it soon begins to collect it in 
particles from the elemental atmosphere that surrounds it. 
The soul doing this as it collected particles for the body 
from the substance within its reach, the mind collected is 
stored in the depositories which are the organs of the 
brain, and through them we have the variety of charac- 
ters. Man is like a steam engine, of which the fire is the 
soul, the mind the steam, the brain the cylinder, and the 
body the machinery. When the fire goes out, the rest is 
dead. The soul develops a new body in the earthly body, 
which is the gestation of the spiritual body, and carries 
the mind forward with it to the next stage of existence, 
which we call spiritual life. 

In this life the soul pushes out its feelers through the 
mind and reaches after earthly enjoyments in the body. 
When there is an excess of brain in the religious organs, 
it pushes out in that direction ; when an excess of benev- 
olent organs, it pushes more strongly out in that direction ; 
when combative, it runs to fighting and to witnessing con- 



THE SPIRITUAL ROSTRUM. 155 

flicts ; when sensual, it runs in that direction ; and when 
alimentive, it runs in that channel : hence we see what we 
call the evil or the good propensity of each child, and fol- 
lowing it, the man or woman. The more perfectly har- 
monious and uniform the brain, the more perfect is the 
character and conduct of the individual. When this law of 
nature is properly understood and applied to life, we shall 
not have so many criminals to punish, for we shall know 
how to keep persons in those places for which they are 
fitted, and put trust only in trustworthy persons. We shall 
then know how to restrain lust and licentious persons, and 
people who are honest and virtuous will shun them as they 
would poisonous serpeats or dangerous beasts. In the 
spirit world this is so, and they are not troubled as we are 
in this life of masks and masquerades. The mind, like 
the body, is an organization made up of particles as the 
body is ; in this life it conforms to the phrenological 
structure of the brain, and no religious conversion changes 
it, although it may exert a restraining influence, and in 
various ways exert through other minds an influence on the 
ultimated actions, as in the case of an old swearer I knew, 
who, after conversion used "durned" for damned," which 
was only an outward change, but not an inward or men- 
tal improvement. Scientists describe the process by 
which the soul makes the earthly body, but never de- 
scribe the soul, because their instruments cannot reach 
it, they being made of materials belonging to the same 
stratum of matter as the body, and not reaching that of 
the soul. They also watch the growth and development 
of the mind, but cannot reach with their instruments the 
materials of which it is composed. 

As they cannot reach the materials of which the spirit 
body is formed, and hence cannot even watch its growth, 
many of them are inclined to deny its existence, and 
hence have no tenement for soul or mind alter death, but 



156 FORTY YEARS ON 

the result of death on the mind leaving it intact, enables 
us to learn from our friends much about the spiritual 
body, although they know as little about its growth, for- 
mation, or development as we do about our bodies here ; 
and they and we know there are bodies, and in human 
form, both male and female, in both spheres ; as of course 
they can tell us of the relations there, as we can of them 
here. They assure us that there tire no rapes or even 
adultery in that life that cause much misery in this life, 
and that will be a release to many victims, both in and out 
of marriage as it is here. No spirit can know that there 
are any eternal conjugal or conjugial affinities, as they 
cannot know any more about eternal life than we do, and 
we can only believe it of the soul, as all forms of which 
we know anything are transient, and the essences only 
being eternal, so far as we know ; and if the soul is an 
indivisible particle of the divine essence, of course it is 
eternal as a unit and individual. Professor Zollner's 
fourth dimension of space gives us the only rational 
scientific idea of what the forms and objects are in spirit 
life, where the mind maintains its individuality, even as 
here, and though not having length, breadth, and thickness, 
as the body has, are tangible realities to our senses, and 
through them to the mind. How the spirits reach and 
realize our three-dimension forms when we cannot theirs, 
I do not know ; they certainly do in many cases, but I do 
not believe that all do at any time they may desire. It 
seems plain to me that sometimes they cannot find us, 
and often cannot be found by guardian spirits of our 
mediums. The spirit world, or globe, being vastly larger 
than this, it is not strange that some persons get strayed 
away, and do not find, even if they seek, their old earthly 
homes, as all nations have their localities and peculiar 
institutions and attractions there. 

Of animals in spirit life, our friends persistently assert 



THE SPIRITUAL ROSTRUM. 157 

that they have the petted and favorite animals they had 
here, or others so much like them as to appear the same to 
them, and in the absence of any knowledge or facts to the 
contrary, I am compelled to believe and to attribute their 
organic forms there to the same divine soul-life in them 
as in us in a perfected condition of immortality, and as 
there is room enough for all existence, and time enough for 
all changes, I do not propose to limit existence in any form 
to this stage of being. It has always seemed strangely in- 
consistent in most spirits when they control mediums for 
lectures, pikers, or dissertations, that such always con- 
fine their discourses to this world, its affairs, beliefs, and 
conditions, but seldom give us on such occasions anything 
about the world where they belong. Why they do not tell 
us in such discourses about the life beyond is to us yet 
a mystery involved and left to conjecture. I do not 
speculate or theorize upon the affairs of spirit life ; what I 
write is what I have gained from those who live there, 
aud of course I take it as I would take accounts of China 
or Africa from those who have been there and seen for 
themselves. I have read the bpinions of Mark Twain 
and D. M. Bennet, and several Christian travellers about 
parts of Asia. In what they agree, I believe, and where 
they differ I take that which seems to me most reasonable 
and consistent. I do the same about the spirit life, and 
when all agree that they have not seen God and his 
throne, nor his Son, I take it for granted they are not 
there more than here, and live only in imagination and are 
seen only with the blind eye of faith. I have no reliable 
evidence that any spirit that visits us can visit any other 
planet or star and return to earth, and it does not seem to 
me reasonable that they can, as it evidently would require 
a change of body nearly as much as for us to go there. 
But many spirits do pretend to have a knowledge of the 



158 FORTY YEARS ON 

planets, and by the same evidence that Christians have of 
spirit life. 

The human soul is never polluted, depraved, or wicked. 
All these defects come from outside influences, and ex- 
pend themselves in an outer form which in time will be 
brought into harmony with the rest, and then happiness 
will be complete through the entire being ; but as no con- 
dition is permanent, in time it will require and seek a 
change, find and make it as we do here. I have no 
knowledge of where the old cider topers of New England 
are, or what they are doing, as I have not heard from or 
of them, but suppose they are somewhere, and not in the 
burning hell of Christian theology. The churches have 
not heard of them either, and hence they cannot tell what 
has become of them in the next life. They are probably 
not worse situated than the English beer-guzzlers or Ger- 
man lager-sleepers : all are somewhere, and probably 
sobered off and improving. 

It is astonishing to see the narrowness of a majority of 
minds in this life, almost entirely absorbed in the daily 
routine of the affairs of this life, with scarcely a thought 
of the to-morrow of death, and leaving that to the priests, 
who actually do nothing to really fit them for that life ; 
hence they are unfitted and unprepared for it at death, 
Catholics depending entirely on the priests, and the Prot- 
estants largely so, leaving such as so depend actually 
less fitted for the change than those who never heard the 
prayers and sermons, but live upright lives. Where and 
what the countless millions of human beings are who 
lived and died thousands of years before the Christian 
era, and even before the Jewish and Christian gods were 
created, invented, or discovered, and who never heard 
of any of them in this world or any other, is more than 
I can find out from the spirits that in our day and country 
pass to the next life ; but none of those I have heard 



THE SPIRITUAL ROSTRUM. 159 

from believe these heathen and half or wholly civilized 
millions are tortured in misery by those later invented 
gods who are now claimed as being in that life by our 
modern theology. They are undoubtedly somewhere in 
the infinite space, where there is room enough and time 
enough for all beings to continue existence that are in it 
or ever have been. 

For some, to us as yet unaccountable reason, there 
exists a very strong desire on the part of many, if not all 
spirits, who went out of this life in great trouble or suffer- 
ing in mental conflict, as by suicide or murder, or in some 
sudden destruction, to obtain control of some medium 
with whom they can get en rapport, and in which they 
often seem to return to a somewhat similar condition of 
feeling, and manifest it through the medium. This no 
doubt causes many suicides, some murders, and perhaps 
carries some persons into places of danger that result 
fatally. What the spirit gains by this fatality, I do not 
know, as it can hardly be accounted for on the principle 
of malice or a desire to harm others, in many if any cases. 
There is certainly some fitting condition in such mediums, 
as are thus fatally controlled, or it could not occur ; and 
it must be a condition in the medium that takes him or 
her out of the control of friendly guardian spirits at the 
time, and gives admission to the controlling influence 
which produces the fatal result on the body ; but what 
the effect is on the thus disembodied spirit, I have not 
been able to learn. Much yet remains for us to learn to 
enable us to escape the evil effects of obsession, and much 
to learn of the value of mediumship of different kinds. 
From every great gift vouchsafed to mankind in this 
world there comes to us good or evil, as we use it. Take 
fire, for instance, and read the daily reports of the terrible 
losses of life and property where it gets beyond the con- 
trol of intelligent minds ; and yet it is the best of servants 



160 FORTY YEARS ON 

to humanity, and one which, were we suddenly deprived 
of, we should sink to the conditions of animals. Elec- 
tricity, which we have now pressed into use, is a dangerous 
element to handle, and yet we could hardly dispense with 
it. Such is mediumship, which, like other great blessings, 
needs to be used carefully and properly. 

In the spirit world are plenty of persons amusing them- 
selves by controlling mediums, and giving through them 
ideal sketches of what does not pertain to that life or 
sphere of existence more than to this. Such are the 
stories often published in our spiritual papers about spirits 
visiting the moon and planets, and on them finding the 
homes of spirits who once had an existence on this planet, 
often representing this as the birthplace of the inhabitants 
of the planets and the sun, as if God had only created 
intelligent beings on this earth, made them immortal, and 
peopled the solar system from it. Such nonsense is the 
legitimate outgrowth of our absurd theolog^y, as are a 
large part of our novels ; and this is a class of spiritual 
fiction gotten up for the ideal amusement of the spirits, 
but imposing a seriousness on the mediums and some 

' other dupes that gives the stories a sacredness, as if the 
matter was really true. Nothing coming from spirits that 

V. is not rational, consistent, and in harmony with the grand 
law of evolution, is to be taken for truth because it 
comes from spirits, any more than if it originated in the* 
minds of theorizers on earth. We are fast learning that 
mentally and intellectually the two spheres of existence 
are very much alike, with no more of God or devil in one 
than the other to restrain or interfere with mental ram- 
blings, and no more sacredness or seriousness there than 
here. It will take many years yet to disabuse the public 
mind from the theological absurdities imposed upon it by 
the constant preaching of evangelical and other ranting 
fanatics, and the influence of these and ignorant, simple- 



THE -SPIRITUAL ROSTRUM. 161 

minded, pious mothers over their children, aided by 
Sunday-schools and Bible classes, and to get the mind 
down to a rational, natural understanding of the two 
spheres of life and the relation they bear to each other ; 
but in time it will all be accomplished, and the whole 
S}^stem of Christian salvation be relegated to the shadows 
of superstition, ignorance, and bigotry. Birth into this 
life has already become recognized as a natural result of 
law, in which God has no more part directly than he has 
in the birth of birds, and soon the transition by death will 
be looked upon as of the same nature, and what follows 
that event be the same as what follows birth here, and 
have no more and no less to do with God in one case than 
the other. 

I have found a great variety of opinions in both spheres 
of life about the relations of the sexes in spirit life, and 
yet all agree that sexuality is retained in that life ; but 
many here have the opinion that sexual intimacy, such as 
exists here, ceases at death, if not before, and is never 
renewed. Such is the opinion of many people on earth 
and the teaching of the Roman Church, from which it is 
chiefly derived, and these people go over with such ideas 
prevailing, and the mind firmly fixed in them, and it is 
often a long time in changing to an appreciation of the 
fact that the natural relation of the sexes is not changed 
by death. The old Church also teaches that all sexual 
relations not authorized and allowed by the officers of 
the Roman Church are sinful and sins against God, 
and such disobedience as Adam and Eve were guilty of. 
The best authority I can gain from that life teaches that 
social and sexual relations in that life are much higher 
and far superior to any in this life, and rise entirely out 
of the sensual plane of thought and feeling, but are on 
a spiritual plane, in the blending of congenial minds in 
mutual life and enjoyment superior to any on earth. Of 



162 FOKTY YEARS ON 

course, the sensual are left in the mire of their own mak- 
ing, and deprived of the higher society and company of 
the pure and spiritual life of those who go there fitted for 
its enjoyment. When the ignorant, or those in the lower 
grade of thought and feeling, communicate, of course 
they give their own views, beliefs, or experiences, and 
often give us to understand they are universal there, 
because they are not admitted to the higher societies. I 
have not learned that any priestly marriages are solem- 
nized there, or that any bonds are entered into that can- 
not be severed by either party, but we are assured that 
those whose lives were united and congenial here up to 
the separation by death are often found as closely united 
there as they were here, and often more so, as they see 
and feel the devotion of each to the other better there 
than they did here. This is Swedenborg's conjugial life, 
but no one knows, it is eternal. 

We have learned that all messages from the spirit 
world are to be estimated by their intrinsic value, without 
reference to the names that are attached to them, or the 
persons from whom they purport to come. Those that 
bring intelligence, establishing the identity of friends, are 
the most valuable, and are, so far as they contain advice 
and counsel, worth as much to us as they would be if those 
persons were still in this life, with very little additional 
sacredness or value. It is true that sometimes, and in 
some cases, our friends, after passing through the gate of 
death into that life, may be able to look into, or look up, 
some few passing events that we cannot see, or that he or 
she could not see when here, and give us some advice on 
such subjects ; but these cases are very limited, and do 
not extend to matters of mental belief or speculations on 
religious beliefs, nbr on principles of moral, social, or 
political life. Death gives us no advance on these sub- 
jects, and hence our pious and prayerful friends are pious 



THE SPIRITUAL ROSTRUM. 163 

and prayerful after death for a considerable time, and 
when they begin to open their eyes to the light they are 
often ashamed of their previous ignorance and superstition, 
and as slow to confess to us their change of belief as they 
would be if still living here. When we all understand 
that a spirit is a mortal, simply having changed his resi- 
dence, and limited mentally there as here, confined to sur- 
roundings and controlled by environments there as here, 
we shall not be, as many are now, misled and fooled by 
their advice simply because they are in spirit life ; while 
many here think they can know anything they choose to, 
and answer correctly any question, and they are often so 
anxious to communicate that they mislead their friends, 
not from bad motives or design to injure, but as people 
do here who heedlessly give advice that misleads friends, 
being themselves ignorant of results. It seems to be one 
of our greatest tasks to disabuse the public mind on the 
subject of the fallibility of spirits, so many seem to think 
all who go through the gate of death have gone into the 
presence and kingdom of God, and ought to be honest, 
sober, righteous, and truthful, and to know everything 
they wish to know about that life and the affairs of this 
life. The many errors taught, and the conflict between 
the teachings of spirits, and the many who have been 
misled by their advice, ought by this time to have taught 
all who communicate that that life is as fallible as this. 

The visionary spirits in the next stage of existence 
seem to exceed those of this sphere, as they mentally 
roam among the planets and stars and speculate on the 
inhabitants of the "summer laud" in the milky way, 
peopled from this little speck of gross matter, the earth, 
to which they are confined by its motions and its attrac- 
tive belts. Many of them have the planets peopled from 
this earth, and so that one Saviour, the Christ, can suffice 
as a Saviour to all, and only have to be crucified ones 



164 FOBTY YEAKS ON 

as a sacrifice for sinners to repent by. Others have gen- 
erating conditions on the planets and new races there ; 
none, however, with forms superior to the perfected and 
beautified human form, but with great varieties of defec- 
tive forms inferior. When we can understand that these 
are only mental observations, the same as those here of 
which novels and theatrical plays are made, then we shall 
know how to estimate their value ; but so long as we look 
upon spirit messages as Christians do on stories in the 
Bible, so long they will delude us as Bible stories do 
Christians. This has been one of the most important 
items I have gained by my long intercourse with spirits. 
Both spheres of life have their personality confined to 
locality much alike, confined by forces over which they 
have no control, but each leaving the mind at liberty to 
roam as it can, and form pictures and describe them the 
same in each sphere. We speculate on the inhabitants 
of the moon and planets and of the interior of our hollow 
globe, and why should not the mind continue to do this 
after death, when it is no more restrained than here? 
Christians see with the eye of faith here and there, and 
wait for Christ and the resurrection, and some of the Cath- 
olic spirits are in repose, waiting for these events and 
listening to the masses said here and there by deluded 
and deceiving priests, the same in both spheres, and nei- 
ther there nor here will they listen to the voice of reason, 
and learn that nature and natural law is supreme in both 
worlds ; that God is as much in one as in the other ; and if 
they wait ten millions of years, they will see no more of 
him than now. Countless millions of human beings that 
lived and died before the Christian or Jewish era are still 
in the darkness of their religious superstitions. 

At the Free Circle rooms, so long sustained by the 
Banner of Light in Boston, a wise and intelligent circle 
of spirits have kept control of the intercourse through the 



THE SPIRITUAL ROSTRUM. 165 

several different mediums selected and paid b}^ the Banner 
office. Through these mediums they have given many 
answers to questions, showing in them clear, consistent, 
and rational views on most occasions, such as the most 
advanced minds on earth would give in similar cases, as 
the questions are usually more or less connected with the 
affairs of this life ; and when they relate to the next life, 
the answers are consistent with what we should expect 
under a universal law of evolution. In the messages, the 
Circle has shown much wisdom in admitting to the list of 
communicants a great variety of persons in all stages of 
intellectual development, to show us how persons go 
through death and come out into that life in the same 
mental stature as they leave this, and that only by slow 
and steadily progressive steps do they in that life increase 
in knowledge and wisdom, as we do here. I have watched 
with deep interest the efforts of both parties in this work, 
the spirits and our faithful friends at the office, in their 
united efforts to give to the readers of the Banner evi- 
dence not only of the existence of those who go out of 
this life through the door of death, but of the condition 
of all classes of persons in that life. Little children are 
often given a chance to show their childish condition of 
mind and attachments to parents and playmates, amd 
even the toys they left here. The colored slave, too, has 
a chance as well as the strong-minded men and women 
whose lives here were devoted to reforms. Quite a num- 
ber of my personal friends have sent through this channel 
greetings to me, perfectly characteristic of them as they 
were in this life, and thereby fully identifying their per- 
sonality to me. 

My social, political, and religious creed, as partly de- 
rived from and wholly approved by my friends living in 
spirit life : — 

Perfect equality between the sexes in all conditions of 



166 FORTY YEABS ON 

life. Marriage, a civil contract, to be made, controlled, or 
dissolved wholly by the parties to it, under general laws. 
Legal restrictions and public records protecting offspring, 
wholly released and freed from sectarian and clerical con- 
trol. All children legally the legitimate offspring of both 
parents, and both held responsible for their support and 
complete education until of age. Both sexes equally 
eligible to any office, all of which should be nearly equally 
divided between them. No military armaments main- 
tained by nations or states, but all disputes between 
nations to be settled by arbitration in a congress of na- 
tions, conformable to international laws and courts of final 
adjudication, and the whole people bound and pledged to 
cslyyj out the decisions arrived at, as they are in our 
courts, and every vestige of wars and weapons of human 
destruction destroyed ; then justice would take the place 
of force and destruction. A legal prohibition of the 
manufacture and sale of intoxicating drinks, and of the 
production and importation of the filthy, poisonous, and 
expensive nuisance, tobacco, and the direction and en- 
couragement of all industries in providing the necessaries, 
comforts, and luxuries of life. The land restored to the 
people to whom it belongs for homes and production, and 
no speculation allowed in it, occupancy alone securing 
title. This to be reached gradually by laws that will not 
rob any person of acquired rights of property in land, 
but by gradual transfer and purchase, limiting sales to 
occupants, and prohibiting them to speculators. Aboli- 
tion of what we call capital punishment and reformatory 
institutions of industry for criminals, of which there would 
be few with the above reforms in our social system. Re- 
peal of all laws for the forced collection of debts, thus 
throwing all persons who want credit on personal honor 
and punctuality to obtain it. All homes of families with 
children in them sacred, and never subject to forced sale 



THE SPIRITUAL ROSTRUM. 167 

or mortgage foreclosure. Public education provided for 
all children and enforced. 

A purely and exclusively national currency, allowing 
nothing to circulate as currency that has not the fiat of 
the government, whether made of paper or metals, as a 
legal tender, and a supply of such currency sufficient to 
reduce interest to a rate below the actual increase of pro- 
duction in capital exclusive of the rise in property, in 
order to keep the industries in active operation, and 
enable the operatives to pay for, as they require the 
necessaries and comforts of life. All changes to be 
made so as not to produce convulsions in business, or 
robberies of accumulation of property, as now under our 
present false and wicked system, in which honest and 
upright persons are involved as well as speculators, and 
where accumulations have been made under bad laws. 
Government depositories for surplus money in savings, 
with government responsibilities to depositors, instead of 
our constantly failing deposit banks. Corporations held 
strictly accountable to public interests ; all watered stock 
confiscated, and no issues allowed of stock except for 
actual payments at the time of issue. No interest 
allowed on mortgages when there is no product from 
property mortgaged, and no interest on debts for the Sun- 
days when labor is suspended, it being considered a legal 
day of rest, in which the note should rest as well as the 
laborer. All laws to protect labor and capital both, and 
with equal justice to both, as they do not now, being par- 
tial to capital and oppressive to labor, the producer of 
capital. All church property taxed the same as other 
property. No religious interference or participation in 
Congress or in the legislatures by chaplains or otherwise, 
and no sectarian teachings allowed in any schools for the 
secular education of children until they attain to years of 
discretion and reason, but no interference with parental 



168 FORTY YEARS ON 

teaching by example or precept. No oaths administered 
in any court to a witness, but all persons held responsible 
under suitable penalties for false testimony in trials, the 
oath being now only a farce, and punishment for perjury 
the only restraining force. No religious test for office or 
for a witness. 

To me religion does not consist in any kind of cere- 
monies, beliefs, faiths, or ceremonial exercises for, or to, 
any foreign person or power ; not in fear of God or love 
of God, nor in praising God, nor in glorifying God; not 
in praying to God, or asking favors of God, but in 
honestly and faithfully doing our duty to ourselves and our 
fellow-creatures, both to human beings and animals ; 
and I consider it a sin to abuse a horse or other domestic 
animal which we have brought under our jurisdiction, or 
to do an injustice to man or beast, a sin that no Christ or 
ancient sacrifice of innocence can atone for or forgive. 
I do not believe there is or can be any forgiveness of sins 
except by the person injured by the sin ; and as we can- 
not injure God, there is no sin for God to forgive ; and 
as an animal cannot forgive us, we have that settlement to 
make sometime with our own conscience, which is the 
monitor within taking notes, and is sure to report some- 
time and somewhere, and to prescribe the penance. As 
there is no sin against God, there is no forgiveness from 
God, and we are left to be reconciled to our fellow-beings 
who move along the path of life with us, through death, 
into a condition of life where we see and are seen just as 
we are, with our earthly lives attached to us and plainly 
visible. As I have no confidence or faith in the fables or 
parables of the Bible, I have no fears arising from them. 
The moral precepts and principles there or elsewhere that 
my judgment approves are sacred, but no more so for 
being in the Bible than if in the Koran or in Shakespeare. 
Death has lost all terrors, and I no more fear it than 



THE SPIRITUAL ROSTRUM. 169 

natural sleep, from which I expect to awake in a short 
time ; and as I never expect to see any of the gods or 
devils in the next life, of course I have no fear of them. 
I live my own life, and expect to meet it after death. I 
cordially forgive everybody that has injured me, and hope 
to be forgiven by those I have injured in this life or the 
next, for, of course, I have done some wrongs. 

From all I can learn, religious beliefs and other beliefs, 
as well as peculiarities of character, extend into the spirit 
life, and persons there, as here, speculate on a future, and 
depend on events that exist only in their minds. It is 
so common for spirits controlling mediums to write out 
fictitious and conflicting theories of future events, that it 
is plain they have no more knowledge of the future there 
and to them than they had when here, or than we have ; 
hence they ma} r as firmly believe in the coming of Christ 
there as they did when here, and wait as patiently for the 
expected event. I cannot learn that there is much differ- 
ence in the mental condition of persons there and their 
condition of mind when here, nor that they advance much 
faster there out of errors of belief than while here. As 
that life, although not eternal, is much longer than this, 
there is ample opportunity for progress and for getting free 
from the superstitions that encumber 'the minds here. 
This is one of the most important truths for us to learn 
from our intercourse. We find quite a number of our best 
mediums controlled by Indian girls and other girls and 
boys that lived here and passed on many years ago, some- 
times hundreds of years, and yet seem to be like our 
children here, with the addition of sharpened wit and 
intellect, but as fond of toys and playthings as our chil- 
dren here are, and as much pleased with bright colors and 
fancy trinkets as when in this life. From this we learn 
how slowly the mind advances in that life. They also 
tell us their forms are usually small even when they have 



170 FORTY YEAES ON 

been there a century. They must also keep in the range 
of our seasons to be able to register the years as we do 
from the revolutions of our planet around the sun, as there 
is no other way to keep the measure of time in years. 
They may have calendars as we do to mark the periods of 
time ; but if they are the same as ours, they must be based 
on revolutions of the earth. 

We are often told, what is probably true, that when 
spirits come into rapport with us and our earthly forms 
and affairs, they seem to largely return to a sympathetic 
connection of their life on earth, and when they return to 
the normal condition of that life, they are released from 
this sympathetic condition of life on earth. Many spirits 
seem so attached to earthly friends or places and events 
that they loose much of that life, and remain so entangled 
in the affairs of this life, and of those that live here, that 
they make slow progress in spiritual development. We 
often meet with spirits who, when on earth, were addicted 
to the use of profane language, who on returning and 
controlling mediums, use the same expressions freely, but 
they assure us that they do not use such in spirit life. If 
our ridiculous theology was true, they would not even 
come back and make such use of the name of God and of 
Christ, and call for such damning and endless hell fires. 
That spirit life is merely a discreted degree of outer and 
body life, with no change by death in the condition of the 
mind, except so far as it is in immediate relation to its 
surroundings. Those who change worlds in a state of 
great fear remain in a state of fear for some time after 
the change, especially if it be a fear of God, or a coming 
judgment and sentence from it to an eternal and unchange- 
able destiny. Those who fear a cessation of conscious 
existence usually are made happy by the fact that life 
continues after death, as such minds are usually without 
fear of God, or devil, or hell, and are ready for the new 



THE SPIRITUAL ROSTRUM. 171 

life, and such incidents as may follow the change of worlds. 
Of all classes of persons who pass through death's door, 
none are so well prepared for the change as those who, 
having heard from friends living there, expect, and are 
ready, to meet them ; and they are very little disappointed 
by the change, for they meet their friends and accompany 
them to their homes. 

The knowledge we gain of the other life before we go 
there to live is as valuable as is the knowledge we gain 
of another country to which we are to emigrate in this 
life. Foreigners would rarely come to this country to 
make a home if they knew as little about it as our Chris- 
tian people know about the spirit world and the life there, 
which is nothing at all, as they ignore all information 
from there, and there can be no other source of informa- 
tion about that world, any more than there would be about 
any country on earth whose inhabitants were never heard 
from, and from which no visitor returned. For myself, I 
am very thankful for all I have learned about the country 
to which I am soon to emigrate, and I think I can prepare 
a much better outfit than I could if I had never heard 
from it. To me it is not a leap in the dark, as it must be 
to all Christians who have had no messages from that life, 
and only rely on the priests and the creeds of Christen- 
dom. I rejoice that this time of intercourse has come to 
us in my lifetime here. Had it not come till my transi- 
tion, it would have been most surely a leap in the dark to 
me, and I should probably have waked up to the fact of 
renewed life from death as the first evidence of such 
existence, as I never could accept any of the Christian 
theories about a future, as they are all, so far as they are 
based on the Bible, relying on a physical resurrection, and 
an eternal residence in a kingdom with absolute monarchy 
for its government, and either a God or a devil for a king ; 



172 FORTY YEAES ON 

in either case an absolute monarchy. Our facts are a glo- 
rious relief from both Christianity and atheism, as well as 
from the leap in the dark theory of the agnostics. I am 
only one of many millions who are now relieved from 
fears of an angry God, or tormenting devil, or annihila- 
tion, and many who have passed through the gate report 
to us that it is even better than they expected. 



THE SPIRITUAL ROSTPwUM. 173 



CHAPTER VIII. 

EXTRACTS FROM CORRESPONDENCE IN THE BANNER OF LIGHT 

AND OTHER PAPERS BRIEF SKETCHES 

FROM MANY YEARS. 

" Thy task may well seem over-hard 

Who scatterest in a thankless soil, 
Thy life or seed with no reward, 

Save that which dnty yields to toil. 
Yet do thy work : it shall succeed 

In thine or in another day, 
And if denied the victors mead, 

Thon shalt not lack the toiler's pay." — Whittier. 

" You can sow to-day ; to-morrow will bring 
The blossom that proves what sort of thing 
Is the seed, the seed that you sow." 

" The main point of conversation is to state one's own opinion 
without exaggeration or platitude." 

"Chicago, September, I860. 
"Large and intelligent audiences on each Sunday of 
this month assembled in a large hall in Chicago to listen 
to Warren Chase. The first lecture of the course was on 
revelation. Taking Webster's leading definition, he con- 
tended it could only extend as far as knowledge goes, and 
could not include any subjects of faith or belief, however 
sacred they are claimed to be. That no words, however 
sacred they might be claimed to be, could ever convey 
knowledge, and hence no words in the Bible could be a 
revelation; nor could the book be a revelation from Cod. 
That it had never made us know anything. That under 
our rules of evidence in our jurisprudence, no testimony 



174 FORTY YEARS ON 

of Bible or priest could be accepted to prove the condition 
of any soul or spirit after death, as there was no knowl- 
edge conveyed by either on which a rational belief could 
be founded. He also took the position that teachings 
were utterly unreliable, and conscientiousness as ready 
to accept error as truth, and hence the variety of religious 
beliefs. 

" The evening discourse was on inspiration and not less 
radical or unsectarian than that of the morning, and yet 
both were listened to with evident satisfaction, showing 
the weakened power of the clergy over the public mind in 
that city. He claimed that while the laws of God were 
just, there was no sign of mercy in any of them toward 
man or beast, nor to man more than to beast, plants, or 
rocks. That so far as we can discover in this life, God 
treated the man who prays and the man who curses alike 
in all of the gifts of nature, and as yet we have no evi- 
dence of any change in God's dealings with man in the 
next life, but there and here leaving him subject to laws 
that ultimately punish or reward." 

" These lectures were given in Kingsbury Hall, one of 
the best in the city, and well attended through the month, 
and quite well reported for the Banner and good notices 
given of them in Chicago papers. The second Sunday's 
lectures were not as radical as the first, but explained the 
mental and internal identity of each person which was 
maintained in spirit life, and he explained mediumship 
and the relation of the two worlds, as he has many times 
since. He maintained that the principal obstacle to a 
general belief in spirit intercourse was a belief in a devil 
who was capable of doing all that is done in the name of 
spirits. According to the lengthy reports of these lec- 
tures, they were very similar to those given now, with 
variations and increased evidence and knowledge, but 
equally radical, and his audiences maintained to the last." 



THE SPIRITUAL BOSTRTJM. 175 

" Toledo, O., Dec. 31, 1860. 

" Amid the political, social, and commercial convulsions 
of the country, and while South Carolina is settling up 
her affairs with Uncle Sam, I may as well send in to the 
Banner of Light the footings of my running account with 
the world for the year which leaves us to-day for that 
unknown region ' from whose bourn ' no year ever 
returns (see footing for 1860 for report) . This little city 
of 14,000 inhabitants, closely united and roped to the 
Union by rivers, lakes, and canals, and riveted by rail- 
roads, is not likely to secede either from Ohio or Spir- 
itualism (it did secede from Spiritualism and let it freeze 
out). Mrs. Laura McAlpine (later Laura Cuppy) lec- 
tured there with good success, and Mrs. S. M. Thompson 
and Mrs. Ada L. Hoyt (now Mrs. Foye), giving tests, 
are all good and faithful workers and doing good work 
there, as reported in this article. During the year I have 
seen our cause spreading, deepening, and strengthening, 
and taking hold more firmly of the public mind. (So I 
wrote then and have often since, and it is true to this 
day.) The union of the two worlds is growing closer, as 
I anticipate the union of our States will after the con- 
vulsions and the political storms are over, and the second 
sober thought of the people comes to the rescue of rights, 
duties, and obligations of justice. (So I wrote in 1860, 
and so it has proved, as I more clearly expressed it in my 
little book ' The American Crisis,' published about that 
time.) The calling on God in a storm and neglecting 
him in fair weather is ridiculous in this enlightened age." 
(So I think yet, and see no advantage in calling on God 
in an}' weather or in any emergency, as he never interferes 
to save us from fatal calamities in this life or any other 
that I have heard from.) 



176 FOBTY YEARS ON 

In February, 1861, 1 wrote an article for the Banner on 
"Mind and Matter," in which I stated, " I leave to physi- 
ologists to decide where human beings begin existence, 
both as a race and as individuals, and when they have 
decided, I will then endeavor to show that then and there 
the human soul began to ' live, move, and have a being.' 
As they never did, and never could, even find the origin 
of life or the origin of souls, because there is none, both 
being eternal in duration, I for myself, settled this ques- 
tion some years later in life, and gave my conclusions in 
my late work, ' Essence and Substance.' " 

July 8, an interesting letter was written to the Banner, 
from Geneva, O., too long for insertion here. It speaks 
of general complaints, of wincty days, frosty nights, short 
corn, thin grass, and scarcity of money, and yet many 
pleasant homes in the four States recently travelled over 
on my missionary work, and increasing interest in spirit 
intercourse, which has ever had many friends in the 
Western Reserve, where Joshua R. Giddings and Senator 
B. F. Wade defended it. This letter gives a graphic 
description of the free love society at Berlin Heights, O., 
and of a convention held there by the Spiritualists, to 
which very few of the society belonged, and speaks of 
them as well behaved, free from tobacco and liquors, 
profanity, and quarrelling, and the prevailing social evils 
of our large cities, and yet as abused and lied about by 
their pious neighbors, as if they were drunkards and 
thieves. It speaks of the convention as a most harmo- 
nious assembly, free from all disturbance and largely 
attended, and of the able speeches given by Seldon J. 
Finney, Mrs. H. F. M. Brown, Mr. Barnum, Mr. Loudon, 
myself, and others, and the good impression made, but 
not indorsing nor condemning the society of free lovers 
quietly residing there, as the Oneida society did in New 
York ; but as they were strongly opposed to the popular 



THE SPIRITUAL KOSTRUM. 177 

use of tobacco and intoxicating drinks and pork, and to 
profane language, quarrelling, and law-suits, as well as 
ta fashionable Christianity, they had too many reforms 
for the age and country in which they lived, and by the 
society with which they were surrounded. The result 
was they dried up and scattered after a few years of trial, 
while the Oneida society, which was Christian, but had 
all of the other obstacles of outside society to contend 
with, lived on for years, though it at last had to yield its 
social practices to the church regulations. 

Battle Creek, Mich., Aug. 22, 1860. 
A letter says, " Once more under our own roof is the 
family circle complete, and glad hearts are joined in feast- 
ing on the ripened and abundant fruits of our Michigan 
soil. In our little garden (which consisted of one acre 
only) may be seen growing apples, pears, peaches, plums, 
figs, and grapes, and the various garden vegetables. 
Since I last left the cottage, I have travelled in all of the 
free States east of the Rocky Mountains, and lectured in 
all but Maine, and in Missouri and Maryland, which were 
then slave States. Have visited hundreds of happy homes 
and some unhappy ones, have found the Banner of Light 
in many, and many more needing it. . . . A brighter day 
is dawning on this benighted world, even in the midst of 
the political, social, and religious strife, commotion and 
turmoil. We can see the day-star that gives promise of 
a brighter morrow (this was just before the election of 
Lincoln). ... I have occupied the pulpits of several 
prominent clergymen, and have there often taught our 
philosophy unconsciously to their audiences if not to 
themselves. ... To be a true, consistent, and rational 
Spiritualist will soon be an honor in any intelligent com- 
munity (so it is). . . . Have been absent over a year 
and lectured every Sunday but one, and given on an 



178 FORTY YEARS ON 

average over four lectures per week. ... In a few days 
I return to my wandering work, and my eldest son to his 
college studies." 

" Syracuse, N.Y., Oct. 3, 1853. 

"Editor of Oshkosh Democrat: As I journeyed along 
my winding way to the Gotham of the East, I left the cars 
at the depot in this city to call on some friends and spend 
a few days at the great 'Salt-lick' of our nation. I 
soon found myself in the midst of many noble hearts 
which beat for human progress and liberty, gathered here 
to celebrate the c Jerry Rescue/ I soon met my old 
friend Gerrit Smith ; then an old veteran in the cause of 
freedom, Samuel J. May ; then the soul-inspiring face 
of John O. Wattles ; then a bright and noble soul in Lucy 
Stone ; and another in Antoinette L. Brown, who was 
duly installed and had a right to ' preach/ Friday 
morning a crowded house of earnest souls gathered to 
listen to Lucy Stone on human slavery. Soon her small, 
delicate, but well-proportioned form, with a living soul in 
it, was in the desk, and the silvery tones of her persuasive 
voice, in well-chosen words fitly spoken, was sending its 
thrill through the audience. I wish we had a hundred 
like her in the field. She spoke with much ease of the 
hard and soft shells of this State ; the soft were dough- 
faces, and the hard had scarred consciences, and the fire 
of truth, she said, was already heating with a prospect* of 
cracking both shells. Being registered as one of the vice- 
presidents, I became quite well acquainted with the plat- 
form of the ' Jerry Rescue,' and with deep interest 
listened to the eloquent speeches of Gerrit Smith, Antoi- 
nette L. Brown, S. J. May, Lucy Stone, and others, during 
our three days' convention, held for and donated to the 
cause of freedom. Saturday we had to go out into the 
open air, as the hall would not hold the three thousand 



THE SPIRITUAL ROSTRUM. 179 

people assembled to listen to these noble and devoted 
advocates of human liberty and the emancipation of the 
millions of slaves held in the South in apparently hope- 
less bondage. A rain-storm and a circle prevented my 
hearing C. C. Burleigh Sunday." 

In the Oshkosh Democrat is also a lengthy letter from 
me dated Oct. 7, 1853, with a description of the Crys- 
tal Palace and its contents, in New York, in which I held 
a commission from the Agricultural Society of Wisconsin. 
But as that great exhibition has been eclipsed by the Cen- 
tennial, and nearly gone out of the memory of our people, 
it is not worth while to repeat or read it now. The vast 
amount of my correspondence would fill several large 
volumes if collected, as it never can be. Only a few 
fragmentary scraps are in my possession, as much of it 
was never even seen by me after it was printed. My 
next letter to the Democrat, dated Oct. 22, 1855, de- 
scribes a visit to the last lingering remnant of the many 
Phalanxes, or Fourier Societies, then still holding out at 
Red Bank, N.J., which soon after succumbed and fol- 
lowed the others to oblivion, to wait a renewal in the other 
world, as society here was not ready for that state of 
social life. As none of them tolerated tobacco or liquor, 
gambling or laziness, they were sadly out of sorts with 
popular society and soon dried up. This letter speaks of 
spending some pleasant hours in New York with Horace 
Greeley, O. S. Fowler, Judge Edmonds, T. L. Nichols, 
Henry James, and others interested in some if not all of 
the reforms I then as now publicly advocated. It also de- 
scribes my visit to the Nutmeg State, as Connecticut had 
not then outgrown its early reputation for working up 
wood into clocks, hams, nutmegs, and cucumber-seeds. 
A visit to Winsted and Hartford is alluded to, lectures 
briefly noted, and a description given of A. J. Davis, 



180 FOBTY YEARS ON 

whose home was then in Hartford ; and also of that 
remarkable medium, Mrs. Semantha Mettler. It men- 
tions the strong hold Spiritualism had at that time on the 
people of Hartford, but which does not seem to have held 
out as well as it has in many places. A visit to the old 
Charter Oak is also recorded, but I did not, like many 
others, rob it of a fragment as a relic. It has long since 
gone, root and branch, and only the sacred ground is left 
where it stood and was a sacred monument. 

In my next letter, dated Oct. 28, 1853, is a descrip- 
tion of the seven Cheney brothers of Manchester, Conn., 
their silk factory, and the improvements they had made by 
co-operative industry and united efforts, which was won- 
derful. The elder brother was among the early Spiritual- 
ists, and a friend of A. J. Davis and Mrs. Mettler. 
Their business outgrew the place, and was partly moved 
into Hartford. This letter says, " No sectarian bigotry 
is in the ascendant here, but the principles of the har- 
monial philosophy shed their genial influence over the 
place. No liquor is sold or used in the place. My soul 
has been refreshed by my visits here, for I see that deg- 
radation is not a fundamental part of a manufacturing 
business, but only incidental to an undeveloped condition 
of mind. I never saw such bright and cheerful counte- 
nances in any manufacturing establishment as I Saw here, 
and I have visited many. Every sign of human progress 
and redemption from poverty, ignorance, and crime gives 
me encouragement to work on, and ever for the redemp- 
tion of the race." My next, dated Nov. 1, 1853, was 
written at the Hutchinsons' home on High Rock, Lynn, 
Mass., giving a description of the tower and the circle 
around the wonderful image, built there by spirit direc- 
tion given through John M. Spear. It was quite a curi- 
osity, and went far toward showing me that there are 
spirits as fanatical as some denizens of this life, and as 



THE SPIRITUAL ROSTRUM. 181 

eagerly seeking for wonders and marvellous developments. 
This image was first supposed to be for perpetual motion, 
and later it was claimed that it would be endowed with 
life ; but, of course, all failed, and only served to educate 
us on the conditions of those who inhabit the next sphere 
of existence. The image was mostly metallic, and built at 
considerable expenditure of time and money, and if for 
any other purpose than to educate us in the direction 
above stated, I never saw any evidence of it. All parties 
were at last ashamed of being duped in the enterprise by 
spirits. 

My next letter seems to be largely devoted to Ad in 
Ballou and his Hopedale Community, which was then 
quite successful, and a pleasant home for reformers in 
social life, but, like other premature efforts at a higher 
social life on a communitive basis, has gone out, or at 
least out of notoriety, like the Shakers. The society had 
then been eleven years in existence, and showed no signs 
of dissolution that I, a visitor, could discover, but I have 
heard little of it since. I think Brother Ballou, if not his 
community, parted from the Spiritualists on account of 
the free love craze, as he feared it might lead out of the 
orthodox teachings on the marriage subject. My next 
takes in Western New York, and the former home of Mr. 
and Mrs. Love, then the celebrated Mary F. Davis, and 
later the Mary Fenn, recently passed on to celestial life, 
for which her labors and disposition in this life fitted her, 
and where she can be happier than she could be here. A 
later letter describes graphically the " war of the gauges," 
which has gone into the history of Erie, Penn., the post 
and battle-field of the broad gauge and narrow gauge in 
the greatest railroad war our country has experienced. 
Then comes a description of the home of Grace Green- 
wood, at New Brighton, Pa., the home of her childhood ; 
her home name was Sarah Jane Clarke, and there, too, 



182 FORTY YEARS OK 

lived one of our early able and faithful workers, Milo 
Townsend, and an old anti-slavery pioneer also. My next 
gives a graphic account of a railroad smash, with one 
death and many hurt on the train I had decided to go on, 
but was, contrary to my usual custom, persuaded to wait 
till next da}\ Only an incident, people said, giving my 
spirit friends no credit; but they do not need it. My 
next describes the Ohio legislature trying to elect a 
United States senator, and finally electing Salmon P. 
Chase, who had only two abolition votes for a long time, 
but by Democratic strategy was chosen. 

Next comes L. A. Hine, a bold writer and liberalist of 
Cincinnati, and his pamphlet on the tallest steeple, and 
also a graphic description of the city and its suburbs, and 
slaughter-houses for swine. Joseph Barker was there, 
lecturing against the Bible, a powerful speaker who after- 
ward became a convert, and blew hot out of the mouth 
that once blew cold ; and at last nobody had confidence in 
him, as he deserved none. In 1854 I returned to New 
England and kept up this correspondence till the paper 
expired, as I have with many others before and since. 
An old scrap-book contains many more of those letters to 
different papers during the years before the publication of 
" The Life Line" in 1857, from which much of the inter- 
esting incidents is taken for that book ; it does not need a 
place here, and I move on to later correspondence. 

A letter from the greatest physical sufferer I ever knew, 
and my answer, from a Banner of Light of 1870 : — 

" To Warren Chase. 

" Dear Brother : From your article, ' Whence are we? ' I see 
you * believe ' man had no beginning, and so can have no end. 
I had desired to know your belief on the subject. I can think 
of nothing which to me is more absurd, even in the old the- 
ology, than the doctrine of pre-existence. If the doctrine were 
true, you and I may have been through the same in an earthly 



THE SPIRITUAL BOSTBUM. 183 

body an indefinite number of times. We are, at least, liable to 
be forced through an earthly body any number of times in the 
endless future. I might stand a good chance to get better 
bodies than the one I am in. I might get worse bodies. On the 
whole, brother, I prefer the assurance of an endless and dream- 
less sleep. Yes, sooner give me non-existence than such a lia- 
bility. I say this coolly and deliberately. I think few men have 
experienced more real mental and social felicity. Still, I ask 
nature and the gods to save me from another such a life. I do 
not fear it ; I have so far borne this with courage and patience. 
I shall get through with what I believe to be the material hell of 
my existence; then I expect a better life for a season. For 
many years your life was one of great hardship, but I hope it 
may never be such as to enable you to fully realize the justifica- 
tion of my words. Brother, what do you do with the doctrine 
of progression? Have we been improving during the endless 
past, and only reached our present mental and moral stature? 
If so, about how much — or how little — will the endless future 
do for us? In love, I am your brother, 

"Austin Kent. 
" Stockholm, New York, April, 1870." 

" Yes, brother, you and I exist. This is an admitted 
fact. We were not consulted about our existence, or at 
least, we have now no knowledge of being a voluntary 
party to it, nor of fixing the conditions and surroundings, 
so we have not much more chance of our choice in the 
future, whether it be annihilation or life. Fixed and im- 
mutable laws govern us in all stages and conditions of 
existence. We cannot if we would put an end to our ex- 
istence, nor can any other power. Intelligence is eternal 
in its most minute particle, and there is one in each of us 
that will maintain its individuality through all eternity ; it 
is divine, and as pure and perfect in degree as the aggre- 
gate, which is God. Your painful body can be and must 
be borne only for a brief season. I, too, have beat the 
bush and been pelted by the storms all my earthly life, 
and feel, as I near the goal, that a reward is sure. Pro- 



184 FORTY YEARS ON 

gression! What a use is made of that word! God — 
mind — spirit-essence, never progress, being always per- 
fect ; bodies grow and decay and renew, and that is 
relative progression ; and all progress is relative change, 
universal and eternal. Where we were and where we are 
to be in countless eons of past and future, are not now 
within the scope of our knowledge. That we are, is nearly 
all we know. We do not even know fully our relative 
position to each other, hence can scarcely say what pro- 
gression is in ourselves — children — men — children again 
— dead — spirits, and then what and where? Our rules 
are too short to measure further. Many spirits come 
to earth to learn, and to grow better. Eternal progress 
from a starting-point is an absurdity, unworthy comment, 
as would be the starting of a ball in a direct line and con- 
tinued with eternal speed in a straight line from that 
point ; no such motion can be. All motion is in circles, 
and all periods rounded by the meeting of two ends. The 
ancients had a symbol of eternity fitting well. It was a 
snake with his tail in his mouth, and forever swallowing 
himself. It is not probable you or I shall ever have just 
such bodies or lives as we have here, nor is it likely we 
ever had such before ; but the time may come when we 
shall be thankful for this experience, and glad we lived 
and fought it out. Let us take it all and bear it, and be 
ready for the next turn of Fortune's wheel. I have already 
been a thousand times thankful that I was not born of 
rich, popular, or of Christian parents. Not because my 
life here has been easier or more pleasant, but because I 
already realize my advantages in the next stage of being ; 
and I feel sure, brother, that you too, will rejoice over 
your earthly lot, however hard it seems now." 

From an article in the Banner of April 28, 1860, I ex 
tract the following : — 



THE SPIRITUAL ROSTRUM. 185 

u I believe love is an element as free as electricity 
or magnetism, and no more intelligent or responsible, 
but, like them, subject to laws. It cannot be God, 
and does not rule the world or mankind. The human 
mind or will, however free and voluntary in its action, 
does not always control this element in the organism of 
the body and mind. The human heart is often as merci- 
lessly destroyed by it as the fruit-tree is by lightning, 
and its shocks are often as violent as those of electricity 
and even as destructive. It seems to me the only safety 
is in discerning its laws and guarding against injurious 
effects, as we do against those of electricity. Then we 
shall soon discern how far we are like Ley den jars, voltaic 
piles, or galvanic batteries, and protect ourselves and 
society from the evil effects now attributed to God or the 
devil. Speculations, experiences, prayers or divorces will 
never remove the evils experienced by the ungoverned use 
of this potent element in the human organism. I wish 
we had some Galva or Franklin to experiment with the 
social and religious manifestations of this element, and 
searching find the laws that control it and the instruments 
necessary to govern it." 

In the Banner of May 12, 1800, is a long article by me, 
on the social discords among Spiritualists, from which I 
have only room for the following extract : — 

" One part of the mission of spirits is sympathy with 
the suffering and afflicted, and I do not know where they 
could find more deserving or greater demand than in some 
of those oppressed victims of domestic tyranny. ' Steps 
to heaven are fire-paven, , says a poet, and I think many 
can bear record to its truth, and none more than some 
victims of social discords. That there are some unworthy 
subjects, and some who 'flee when no man pursueth,' I 
have no doubt ; but we have been long taught that there 



186 FORTY YEARS ON 

is no effect without a cause. Those who think spirits or 
Spiritualism the cause of the social discords of spirits, 
are as much mistaken as the ancients who thought the sun 
went round the earth and caused day and night. The cause 
and effect both exist ; it is the suffering that brings the 
sympathy of the spirits, and I am glad to say of Spiritual- 
ists also, and often, too often, when it could not be found 
in our Christian churches and their adherents." 

In the Banner of May 26, is a letter written at Geneva, 
O., with a scathing review of an editor of a local paper 
at Conneaut, O., who had attacked Spiritualism and its 
speakers. He long since passed to the shades, while 
Spiritualism goes marching on, conquering and to con- 
quer. It says of his allusion to me that if I had not 
more friends in the county than he had, I should not stop 
there to lecture. He said Spiritualism was " endemic 
and epidemic," and the letter says he had better take it, 
as "hair of the same dog cures the bite." 

In looking over the files of the Banner of twenty-five 
and thirty years ago, and its extensive correspondence, I 
see names of but few who are still among its correspond- 
ents, and this notifies me that my time is nearly out. 
In the issue of July 21, 1860, is an article of mine on the 
wicked practice of taking little children to Sunday-schools, 
and teaching them falsehoods they have to unlearn in 
riper years, or remain in ignorant submission to the 
church, — teaching them about God, and heaven, and 
hell, of which the teachers know as little as they do, 
which they will at some time in riper years find out. In 
the issue of Aug. 4 is a long letter written at the home of 
Hon. S. J. W. Taber, an old correspondent of the Boston 
Investigator from Independence, Iowa, and some years an 
auditor in the United States Treasury, where I also vis- 
ited him and his valuable library. This letter gives an 



THE SPIRITUAL ROSTRUM. 187 

account of our convention held there when our sister, 
Mrs. H. F. M. Brown, took part — she and Brother Taber, 
both now in spirit life, of which she knew much, and he 
nothing, as he often told me ; but he found it all the same, 
and enjoys it as he deserved, for he was an honest and 
upright man, a great reader, and a good scholar and citi- 
zen. 

Nearly every issue of the Banner of 1860 has a letter 
of mine, arid quite a number from our young brother, F. 
L. Wadsworth, who came into our ranks in Maine, and 
flourished brilliantly for a short time, and then left us for 
paths and pastures more congenial to his tastes. Dec. 31, 
1860, a long letter from Toledo, O., closes my year with 
its footings of lectures and scanty pay, but keeping up 
expenses, leaving me no excuse to leave the cause, which 
I never wished to do. January, 1861, I report from Bal- 
timore, Md., when the war spirit was up, and the fever 
running high, with Brother Danskin in it to some extent. 
This year I was on the war-path, as elsewhere related, but 
kept my Sundays sacred to our cause. In the issue of 
March 2 is a long and labored article by me on c c Mind 
and Matter," conveying some of the ideas I have since 
extended and varied by study and observation. In the 
Banner of March 9 is the following, which gives some 
idea of my work : — 

" Warren Chase lectures in Oswego the five Sundays of 
March ; in Utica first Sunday in April ; in Troy the sec- 
ond Sunday in April ; in Providence the third and fourth 
Sundays of April; in Putnam, Conn., the four Sundays 
of May ; in Stafford first Sunday in June, and will be at 
the convention in Worcester, Mass., in April." 

A letter from Penn Yan, N.Y., dated March 2Cu 1861, 
says : " Here I met Brother Toohey, w r hose name does not 
appear as often as it should for one doing as much iu the 
cause as he reports. He says he has given over twenty 



188 FOBTY YEARS OK 

lectures in the last month. To-day he still lives, but 
seems rather played out for so young a man." March 29 
a writer from Oswego, N.Y., says: "We have been 
blessed this week with a visit from Professor Grimes, and 
a course of lectures against Spiritualism, and, as Brother 
Chase says, ' amusing the children with his fanny stories, 
and getting their money, which is what he is after.' " A 
description of this discussion between Messrs. Grimes 
and Chase follows, for which the committee had to pay 
Mr. Grimes $45, and Mr. Chase got nothing but the vic- 
tory, and both were satisfied." The writer also says, 
" Henry Ward Beecher gave some lectures nearly as radi- 
cal as those of Mr. Chase." We had evidently been 
approaching each other for some years, and since his 
change to spirit life are much nearer than before. In 
the Banner of May 20, 1861, is a long letter from me, 
largely upon the war spirit in the old Quaker city of 
Providence, in which I approve the loyalty, but deplore 
the war spirit that called it out, and made it necessary. 
No place I had visited showed more zeal and devotion to 
the Union than this old home of Roger Williams. I 
speak of the military parade as a pitiful sight, and say I 
had hoped our country was above the war plane, at least 
a fratricidal war and believe much of it is, but not all, 
and do not know whether a war can bring the lower and 
fractious part up ; and it now seems to me, by the way 
the military spirit is kept up, that it has not done it, as 
our congressmen and the leading papers are talking war, 
and for war preparation on land and sea for naval and 
harbor protection ; but, as I believe, largely for the vast 
appropriations and expenditures of money which they 
hope to have a share of in some way, direct or indirect. 
As I turn over the pages of the Banner of the long ago, 
and read the names among its correspondents, with my 
own, of Judge Edmonds, Henry C. Wright, S. S. Jones, 



THE SPIRITUAL ROSTRUM. 189 

Mrs. H. F. M. Brown, Achsa W. Sprague, Dr. H. F. 
Gardner, S. B. Brittan, Rufus Elmer, John M. Spear, 
L. K. Coonley, Abel Underbill — all in spirit life now, — 
with many others whose names are also there, I almost 
conclude I too ought to be there, having been here long 
enough, and done my little share of the work in introduc- 
ing the new dispensation. In a letter dated ^Providence, 
June 7, 1861, speaking of Thomas Gales Forster, than 
whom we never had a more eloquent man on the, rostrum, 
I say, after hoping he might recover his health, one word 
that will encourage him is " victory," and of thkt we are 
sure, however many of us may fall in the conflict, killed 
by disease or the masked batteries of the churches, by 
persecution and slander, or whoever may run off the x track, 
or stand on side issues. We will conquer, and each 
laborer will have his reward in the grand hereafter. 

A letter dated South Hardwick, Vt., July 5, says,, evi- 
dently in a sorrowful tone, " There is rest for the weary, 
a balm for the wounded heart, sympathy for the sorrow- 
ing soul, even in this world of strife and conflict." 

" What we sow, that we shall gather ; 
Or grapes or thorns it boots not whether." 

The letter closes with a motto, " The Banner and the 
Union." May they together float and prosper. In the 
Banner of August 24 is a long and graphic description of 
a visit to the top of Mount Mansfield, the highest of the 
Green Mountains, and of one of the grandest scenes I 
ever saw, in looking down on a shower whilst the sun 
was shining on it* and us, and the lightning playing on the 
cloud that shed the rain. So there was, as ever with me, 
sorrow and joy intermixed in life. From Glover, Vt., 
Aug. 8, an article of mine on " Government" is deserv- 
ing a place here, but I can find room for only one ex- 
tract. It begins : — 



190 FORTY YEARS ON 

" Backward, ye presumptuous nations : 
Man to misery was born." 

The Christian argument applied to the North from the 
Southern church, — " But whosoever shall smite thee on 
the right cheek, turn to him the other also. And if any 
man will sue thee at the law, and take away thy coat, let 
him have tony cloak also." If the planters of the South 
take the government of the South, give them the govern- 
ment of the North also. If they take the national capi- 
tal, give them the state capital also ; if they take your 
house, give them your farm also ; if they take your 
brother., give them your children also ; if they make 
slaves -of your sons, give them your daughters also, for 
you are all commanded to " resist not evil." That this is 
Christian precept and authority, I do not deny, but it is 
not Christian practice, and I hope will not be till this ter- 
rible conflict is over. Suppose our sires had acted on this 
Christian principle, what should we have had for a gov- 
ernment to-day ? The noble spirit that prompted them to 
resist evil, and make Boston harbor a teapot, was not 
Christian, but it was true patriotism, and I trust will 
enable us to save this country from becoming a home 
^rhere the few aristocrats have all the wealth, and the pro- 
ducers are chattels, or worse, oppressed as wage slaves. 
A letter from Marblehead, in November, speaks of old 
Salem being shaken by the lectures of Emma Hardinge, 
and says, probably the theological cannon that silenced 
the witches will be pointed at her, and she will be shown 
" witch hill" or "gallows hill," and pointed to the old 
elm, and the story of Mary Dyer, and bid to " depart out 
of these parts." A letter dated Boston, January, 1862, 
and headed " 49 and 25," has a graphic sketch of my life, 
and forty-nine years, and twenty-five in Spiritualism, and 
truly says the first forty years of life had very little in 
them to comfort and satisfy me, or pay me for my efforts 



THE SPIRITUAL ROSTRUM. 191 

to live and let live, and only with Spiritualism came any 
satisfaction with life, and such as no church could give me. 

April 5, 1862, my article on "Affection" says : " There 
is a free, spontaneous, and almost universal expression of 
affection and love for children, general or partial in our 
race. Men and women may caress both boys and girls 
under a certain age, and it is all right, proper, and a sign 
of goodness, and not of depravity ; but as soon as these 
children begin to develop man and womanhood, and when 
they need it as much for guidance and protection, it 
suddenly turns to evil and is all wrong, — a sure si^n that 
nature (for it is nature) is totally depraved. Love, then, 
becomes lust, and must be restrained by both Churci and 
State. Hence people taught by both restraining powers 
that they are totally depraved by nature, and this love is 
the sure sign, it is no wonder they largely become so, and 
are so very wicked. If a child of ten years needs affec- 
tion, one of sixteen or twenty needs it more, as the temp- 
tations are greater ; and the shield of love and affection 
should protect both sexes till intellect is ripe." 

My April letters show that I had completed and pub- 
lished my third book, " The American Crisis," long since 
out of print, but which sold well during the war. In the 
issue of May 10 is a very critical letter on D. J. Man- 
del, who, with his best muzzled gun loaded with fine shot, 
was permanently located at Athol Depot, Mass., as the 
Aj-my of the Potomac had been all winter anchored in the 
mud. It says my brother seems to take exceptions to my 
views of prayer. I am glad of it. I should have nothing 
to do if everybody agreed with me, and I would as soon 
have him differ from me as any one. He objects to my 
calling it a crutch or staff ; he calls it a wing ; and I ac- 
cept it as useful to collect dust in the kitchen or carry a 
bird in the air, but useless on the body of man or spirits, 
for either body or soul of mortal. The issue of May 7, 



192 FORTY YEARS ON 

1862, contains an article of mine on "Marriage," which 
says : "True and real marriage consists in the harmonious 
blending of two lives in unitary duality in four depart- 
ments of one nature, — the intellectual, affectional, pas- 
sional, and pecuniary; and the discords in social and 
domestic life arise from a want of harmony in one or 
more of these departments." In the issue of August 23 
is an article on " Slavery, Polygamy, and Land Monop- 
oly," clissing them as kindred systems in our social life. 
In 1862, writing up my half-century of life, I said,*and 
ever say, with the negro recently executed in New York, 
"Thi* has been to me an unfriendly world"; only the 
light and life of, and in, Spiritualism had given me comfort 
and:nope. In the issue of January 3, 1863, is a letter 
of mine on "Abandoned Women," which severely criti- 
cises society for having such a class of women and no 
corresponding class of men. No abandoned men, but 
plenty of abandoned women, of which we should be 
ashamed. 

March, 1863, the following was written, and published 
in the Banner of Light of April 18. It is more appropri- 
ate now than at that time, in some respects, but not in all, 
as some deep sorrows and bleeding wounds of that time 
are healed, 

"Farewell to New England. 

" I leave thee, if not out in the cold, to go out in the 
cold myself. Sorrows and joys are intermixed and closely 
woven among thy hills and vales, and around thy rock- 
bound coast. Grief cankers in many a heart, and sor- 
row drapes the family altar in many a home. Many 
are the causes and varied are the hues. ' Every heart 
knoweth its own sorrow,' and many can exclaim, ' the 
powers I have were given me to my cost,' — the power to 
enjoy, which carries with it the shadow with suffering. 



THE SPIRITUAL ROSTRUM. 193 

Many have I met who have wished themselves back 
nearer to a rock, or quite to a rock in feelings, and, 
although often reproving them, I have been in the same 
condition, and often wished it myself, when my grief, 
too, seemed more than I could bear. Then the angels 
came, and one bright spot, though small and distant, ap- 
peared in the heavens, and Hope hung her anchor there. 

"The proof-sheet from every ledger, the account current 
of almost every family and person, whether made qui rterly 
or annually, will show a debt and credit side that will not 
balance without borrowing from the future joys to offset 
the sorrows, especially in these trying times, when homes 
have been desolated and hearts have been broken ; when 
discords have riven the closest ties, and misery k as 
walked into the most quiet parlors and stirred the smoul- 
dering embers of the most quiet firesides. It sometimes 
seems as if God was scourging the earth ; certainly our 
country has borne a scourging, and how can individuals 
escape? If Jesus bore the sins and sorrows of the 
wicked in his day, shall the good of our day escape? 
Shall the burden fall only on the wicked? No, no, New 
England ; you have given birth to the principle that is 
now being tried on the battle-field and in the school-house, 
on the rostrum and in the parlors, in the dens of thieves 
and by the quiet firesides, in the cabinet and in the 
kitchen. Born and hardened among your rocks, I carried 
your principles, which were ingrained in my education, to 
the westward. I have travelled and traded ; have ex- 
changed thoughts and feelings ; have returned to your 
homes and been welcomed and spurned ; felt blessings 
and curses, and thanked God for blessings and affections, 
and that I can join in and share with you pleasure and 
pain, misery and delight, sunshine and storm, poverty and 
wealth, purity and crime (if crime must be) ; ai^l 1 only 
ask strength to bear with thee my share; bo equal to the 



194 FORTY YEARS ON 

duties of each hour ; carry my crosses ; fulfil my mission ; 
grow better and wiser as life wears away. And I hope, 
if I never visit your shores and mountains again in the 
body that has so often walked your streets of city and 
town, and securely slept in your homes, that my spirit 
may often come to your homes where suffering is, and 
administer words, if no more, to the sorrowing hearts that 
linger and long for deliverance; and that I may be per- 
mitted to meet many of you at the threshold of the other 
life, as you have met me at your thresholds here, and 
share with you there, as you have shared with me here, 
whatever of good we can reach. I often feel as if my 
earthly work was nearly done, and the golden gate was 
ah eady being opened b}^ a mother's hand, that shall let 
me into the realms where this weary heart can rest from 
its life of sorrow and toil ; for to me life has been a 
1 wheel of pain at best,' although I have found sunny 
spots along the shore and among the mountains, in the 
groves, in the cities, and in the cottages ; and have found 
loving hearts, and vile, unhallowed ones ; and all the chil- 
dren of God are, for aught I know, equally sacred and 
dear. I have long since ceased to envy the good or de- 
spise the bad — if indeed there are any wholly bad. I bless 
you all, and wish you all happiness, and feel sure there 
is a law of compensation awaiting every soul for every 
sorrow and every joy. Many of you who have smiled or 
frowned on me will see my face no more, even if I should 
visit New England again, and to you all I say, Good 
spirits bless you, as I do and will, in this life and the 
next. Even envy, malice, spite, and lies have done me 
good, if not so designed, and schooled my soul in lessons 
I could not otherwise have learned. Yes, yes, New Eng- 
land, I love thee still, and still my heart is with thee, 
turning there ; and I could not if I would, would not if 
I could, tear it away. With thee I have seen my saddest 



THE SPIRIT UAL ROSTRUM. 195 

f 

and happiest hours ; drank deeply of the cup of sorrow, 
and from the Ganymede cup of nectar. . . . Once more 
farewell, home of my childhood, land of the brave and 
true. Let me pass in form away, but in spirit let me 
dwell among you still and share your joys and sorrows." 

The above is not all, but most of that letter ; all I can 
afford space for here. In my letter of December 2, 1863, 
is a description of the fruit-hills in the Egypt of Illinois, 
where I located a rude home for myself, son-in-law, and 
daughter, and where we have ever since kept a home, or 
they have, and one for me in old age at South Pass, now 
Cobden, 111. April 3, 1864, my letter from Princeton, 111., 
speaks of attending the funeral service of the Hon. Owen 
Lovejoy ; sermon by Rev. Edward Beecher. Later I made 
some speeches to aid in electing as his successor the 
brother of Col. R. G. Ingersoll. 

In Banner of May 28, 1864, my report says I have 
just closed a third engagement in Chicago, making in all 
ten Sundays, and sixteen lectures to the best audiences 
I have ever addressed in the West. I was then preparing 
to move to our new home in Southern Illinois, now Cobden. 
During all these years nearly every week a letter of mine 
in the Banner reported progress and the work I was 
doing. In its issue of July 9 I report a grand success 
in a convention in Geneseo, III. From New Boston, 111., 
I report the Boston Investigator having done much to 
enlighten the minds and prepare them for Spiritualism, 
which is true wherever that paper has been read, as was 
the case in my family. In the issue of September 10 is a 
very interesting letter on " A Change of Base" ; political, 
social, and religious, somewhat prophetic, but too long to 
copy here, as are many others ; although some critic calls 
my articles "finger-length articles," not knowing they are 
generally read, while his with superfluous verbiage are left 



196 FORTY YEARS ON 

out in the cold. A series of articles from me appear in 1864 
in numbers of the Banner, embodying much I have since 
published in u Essence and Substance," and other works. 
In a letter of December 24 is an account of the .ways and 
workings of the Oneida Community, of which the late 
John H. Noyes was the founder, and then the chief. In 
a letter of May, 1865, after describing two poor women 
who supported themselves by work for a pious Boston 
man, and which they had to continue seven days each 
week to make expenses, and which he took from them 
because they worked on it Sundays, I mention another 
case which I knew, where a very pious lady refused to 
sell milk to a poor woman for her babe because the woman 
was not married, when she knew she could not get it else- 
where, remarking she did not sell milk for such children ; 
and I wondered if she would have sold it to Mary for 
Jesus, whose mother was not the wife of his father. 
October 23 records a very pleasant visit at the home of 
Thomas Garrett, in Wilmington, Delaware, often the 
resting-place of the abolitionists. My letter of January 
1, 1866, reports an average of about $3.50 per lecture for 
the preceding year, scarcely paying personal expenses. 
In the Banner of April 28, 1866, is graphically described 
a vision, if it was a vision, of the future of Philadelphia, 
in which city I got it in some way, in a partially abnormal 
state. It spoke of it as a great city with clean marble 
streets ; not a horse, not a cow, not a dog, not a cat, not 
a pig in its clean streets ; no steam, but electric motive 
power ; free cars for passengers and separate freight cars. 
No intoxicating liquors, no tobacco. A neatness and 
splendor no pen could justly describe ; both sexes beau- 
tifully and comfortably dressed ; buildings of glass, iron, 
marble, and many materials not now known ; parks with 
shade and fruit trees in abundance, and most delicate 
flowers. City completely under-drained, and no sign of 



THE SPIRITUAL ROSTRUM. 197 

filth anywhere. Much more is described in the letter. 
January 1. 1867, announces my taking charge of the 
Banner branch-office in New York, which I retained till 
they closed it up. From this office, 544 Broadway, my 
articles were regular in the Banner during my agency, 
and often spicy. March 23 No. 1 of Vol. 21 of the Ban- 
ner entered my name at head of New York department as 
local editor and agent. In that number my article showed 
up the great folly and absurdity of the effort — still con- 
tinued — to unite Church and State in this country, when 
the tendency all over Europe, and in all enlightened 
countries, is in an opposite direction. Sunday, March 18, 
my letter says : " The first Sunday of rest for two years, 
and that because I could not set to mv engagement on 
account of a storm. " April 17 1 send a report received of 
a praying-machine made to go by water-power instead of 
by wind, as most of them do. It is said to be used in 
some part of the world, and so far as I can yet learn, as 
effectual in securing foreign aid as any human machine- 
praying. The modern discoveries might easily be made 
to utter or print in large, visible letters the Catholic and 
Episcopal service from the books, and thus save the priests 
much labor. May 11 speaks of a man "down in the 
mouth " because he was out of tobacco and no money to 
get it with. 

My articles made reading-matter items for from one to 
two columns each week of my stay in New York, while 
every Sunday my voice was heard in some public hall. 
To this day I think it a mistake in breaking up the New 
York office, but it was too long in getting upon a paying 
basis of business. For some reason, to me then unknown, 
my spirit guides evidently wished me to travel more as 
an itinerant, and hence moved me out of New York City, 
and later out of St. Louis ; but I think now. at the age 
of seventv-five, they will let me settle down and become 



198 FORTY YEABS ON 

local, as I wish to do, and in the West, probably St. 
Louis. 

Sept. 3, 1867, we attended the Eighth National Con- 
vention of Spiritualists in Cleveland, O., but, like our 
location in New York, this experiment to establish a 
national and central organization was premature, and it 
had to be abandoned later. The final bursting of the 
bubble is generally attributed to that blazing comet that 
went through our social sk}^ Victoria C. Woodhull, and 
finally fell in England, landing in London. An effort in 
which I engaged at that time to get up State organiza- 
tions failed. Oct. 20, 1867, in my articles about Chris- 
tianity, I do not include Jesus or his disciples, who were 
not Christians, nor even called so ; they were heretics 
and infidels, and he was crucified as such. They were 
utterly unlike modern Christians, who do not do the works 
they did, nor live as they did, nor teach as they did, but 
instead, follow aristocracy and Roman rituals and dogmas. 
I hold the same ideas now. My graphic articles on New 
York and its "upper ten" Christians, and the suffering 
poor in the streets, gave a picture of Jesus with the poor, 
and the old and new priests with the aristocrats. In my 
department for June 27, 1868, is an account of a motion 
made by Gen. B. F. Butler in the House of Representa- 
tives in Washington, to have mediums taxed as jugglers, 
but which, by a close vote, was defeated. Probably the 
general is wiser by this time ; if not, he soon will be. On 
the first day of May, 1869, the office in New York was 
closed, and all business transferred to the home office in 
Boston, and I started again on my itineracy, but retained 
a place in the Banner as correspondent for several years 
regular, and later irregular to this date. After two years 
and four months of busy life in New York, a change was 
no doubt an advantage to me. My articles were next 
entered as " Editorial Correspondence." In the autumn 



THE SPIRITUAL ROSTRUM. 199 

of 1869 I opened our bookstore in St. Louis, and lec- 
tured there most of the time for three years, and con- 
tinued my editorial letters to the Banner all of the time. 
In my letter of March 20 is this quotation from Theodore 
Tilton, " We have never yet seen any evidence that evan- 
gelical Christians are better men and women than liberal 
Christians" ; and I add that in my fifty years of life and 
observation I have never seen any evidence that either 
were better men and women than many who do not be- 
lieve in Christianity at all, and have generally found that 
most of the wicked, including nearly all murderers, were 
believers in Christianity. In my letter of March 23, 1870, 
is a reference to a saphead by the name of Arnel, who 
chanced to get into Congress, and offered a resolution 
stating that as the Christian religion was recognized as a 
part of the common law of the land, therefore the reading 
of the Bible in our public schools is eminently wise and 
proper, and tending to encourage and foster virtue and 
morality ; and I add, especially the history of David 
and Solomon, of Lot and Noah and Job and Elisha and 
Samson. Had he confined his resolution to Congress, 
and declared it to be a Christian body, needing a chaplain 
and prayers and the daily reading of a portion of Scrip- 
ture and selections as above, the country might make no 
objection to its passage ; but to declare the absurd false- 
hood that Christianity is part of our common law, when it 
is not and never can be, is the height of folly and igno- 
rance, and was thrown as a sop to the most ignorant 
Christians, to show his piety. Dec. 10, 1870, my letter 
speaks of the softening of brain of the Catholic Church, 
as its heart did when it lost the power to persecute and 
execute its opponents. Recently its brain seems to be 
recovering. 

There are many valuable items in these years of regular 
correspondence, but there is room for very few in these 



200 FORTY YEARS ON 

extracts. Jan. 25,%1871, I mention attending a lec- 
ture to the Sunday-school scholars by a pious brother of 
Charles Partridge, who had just returned from a visit to 
the Holy Land, in which he told them he had stood on the 
very roof where Peter stood when the sheet was let down 
from heaven, with all manner of four-footed beasts in it, 
and had stood on the bank of the Jordan, right where the 
children of Israel stood when Jehovah rolled up the 
waters, and let them cross without wetting their feet, and 
several more such stories, and informed them where they 
could find the accounts of these miracles in the Holy Word 
of God; and I thought of the " Fool's Errand, by one 
of the fools." A description of the fountain from which 
the water was drawn which Jesus turned into wine at Cana, 
is also another item of another writer who had visited that 
Holy Land. July 1, 1871, one letter speaks of a judge 
who, in sentencing a criminal to be hung, said God saw 
the motive and the act ; and I thought he ought to hold 
God as accessory and equally guilty, as he saw and knew 
it all, and could, but would not, prevent it and save the 
victim. Another item of ours speaks of the grasshoppers 
eating up the wheat-crop in Paradise, which is now a sec- 
tion of the new holy land of the Mormons in Utah, and 
advises people not to go to Paradise. Another item of 
ours, copied from authentic statistics, shows the death-rate 
in the eight largest cities in the United States. St. Louis 
the lowest, and San Francisco, where they cannot stop to 
die, the second. Another item of mine describes Thomas 
L. Harris as being like Absalom, suspended by the hair 
of his head between the two worlds, and of no benefit to 
either. A letter of March 16, 1872, speaks of the desert- 
ers from our army of brave defenders of the unpopular 
truths, but thinks they will be fully punished by their own 
consciences ; but this has not stopped it, as several speak- 
ers have since gone, the last being our able writer, J. M. 



THE SPIRITUAL ROSTRUM. 201 

Peebles. " Second Advent of Satan" is the heading of 
an article on Spiritualism, which the churches call such. 

My article in the issue of May 18, 1872, announces 
the fact, with reference, that the Supreme Court of Ohio has 
decided unanimously that "neither Christianity nor any 
other system of religion is a part of the law of this Stater' ; 
a godless state in a nation claimed to be Christian, but is 
not legally recognized as such. When the city of St. 
Louis licensed houses of ill-fame, my pen put them on the 
same respectable — or not respectable — basis as licensed 
saloons. The former is ended, and the latter ought to be 
in all cities and States, as a curse with no good in it. On 
the 9th and 10th of November, 1872, the terrible fire in 
Boston swept the Banner of Light office and all its valuable 
stock of books and papers into oblivion ; but the indomi- 
table spirit of its proprietors, and the aid of friends, soon 
put that paper on its feet again, and long may it run with its 
good news. In December of that year Horace Greeley left 
his body for the higher life, and when I had one of fifteen 
electoral votes for Missouri for him for President. April 5 , 
1873, my letter contains a description of a Christian fam- 
ily, regular attendants at a Catholic church, the man a 
miserable drunkard, and the wife a broken-hearted and 
careworn mother of several ragged and half-starved chil- 
dren, who are kept out begging evenings, and yet the 
church can send missionaries to the heathen, and have the 
poor with them, that the Scripture may be fulfilled. In 
June I sold out and closed my business in St. Louis, and 
devoted all of my time to lecturing, taking with me most 
of the books and selling them at my lectures ; but I had 
lost money all the years of our business in St. Louis, and 
only sustained myself by lectures outside of the business, 
and assistance from the Banner of Light, which, with 
Brother Colby, has always been the best friend I have 
ever had in New England. In the fall of 1873 my edito- 



202 FORTY YEAES ON" 

rial correspondence with the Banner, which had lasted 
over six years without a word or note of discord, closed. 
Since then I have been an occasional correspondent only, 
as I have to many other papers. A letter in the Banner 
of November 22, 1873, says, in the last three months I 
had travelled over fourteen States, and lectured in seven 
of them. No one but myself can know the estimation in 
which I hold the Banner and its editors, publishers, and 
its whole corps, and no one else can know the assistance 
it has been to me during its entire existence. I con- 
tinued my correspondence in its columns mostly from the 
West, quite regularly through 1874-75, and its publication 
was a great help to me in my itinerant work. In August, 
1875, I made my second and last trip to the top of Mount 
Washington. 

In the Banner of December 11, 1875, is my notice of the 
transition of my wife, Mary P., to her new home in the 
summer land, with my tribute to her faithful and useful 
life here, and glad release from a suffering body. After 
spending some weeks in '76 at the Centennial, and visit- 
ing my home in Illinois, I proceeded slowly westward, 
closing the year with a course of lectures in Salt Lake 
City. December 31 found me in San Francisco, and, 
after my eventful six years' residence in California, as 
elsewhere related, I returned to close my eventful life in 
the East. I close this Banner correspondence with the 
following report of my seventy-fifth birthday reception, 
as published in that paper, Jan. 21, 1888 : — 

u Seventy-fifth Birthday of Hon. Warren Chase; 
Forty Years in the Field ; Congratulatory Testi- 
monial at Paine Memorial Hall. 

"As set forth in these columns last week, a delegation of 
the Boston friends of Hon. Warren Chase celebrated with 
appropriate exercises, on Thursday evening, Jan. 5, his 



THE SPIRITUAL ROSTRUM. 203 

attainment of the age of seventy-five years of mortal 
experience, and the rounding out of a forty years' term 
of service on his part as a public advocate of the New 
Dispensation. 

"The exercises occurred at Paine Memorial Hall, on 
Appleton Street. Dr. H. B. Storer officiated as chairman, 
with his usual tact and skill, and all present seemed filled 
with an appreciation of the occasion and its lessons. 

" Shortly before eight o'clock the people were called to 
order by Chairman Storer, who proceeded to explain the 
meeting, and what it proposed to emphasize in eloquent 
and concise fashion : — 

"Brother Chase, he said, was indeed to be congratu- 
lated at having attained the age of seventy-five years of 
earth-life — forty of which had been devoted to the wear- 
ing cares incident to the path of the pioneer in the cause 
of truth — with his faculties still undimmed, and his full 
ability for active service in the field still capable of 
demonstrable proof. Some thirty-four years ago he had 
made the acquaintance of Mr. Chase in the city of New 
York, whither he (the speaker) had gone as a delegate to 
a Spiritualist convention ; and the friendship then formed 
had endured to the present hour. 

"Brother Chase commenced life as a free-thinker, or 
materialist ; he did not hesitate to give expression to the 
agnosticism which then ruled his mind ; when he did not 
believe the existing order of thought regarding human 
life and its probable outcome, he did not hesitate to pro- 
claim it ; and when the time came that he did believe in a 
future life and in the bearing of the present upon the 
next, he showed equal courage and persistency in making 
that fact known also. 

" The speaker believed that Brother Chase was the first 
advocate of the Harmonial Philosophy as set forth by 
Andrew Jackson Davis ; and did valiant service for the 



204 FORTY YEARS ON 

betterment of human conditions at the time when the 
glamour of a false theology blinded some of the keenest 
intellects of the world, and any reform, if it hoped for a 
hearing, must approach the people, hat in hand, through 
church channels, and ' for Jesus' sake.' 

" He referred to the bigotry of the churchmen who, in 
the early days of the great temperance movement, refused 
to allow women, the wives of reformed drunkards, to tell 
from the pulpits of the land the story of their great tem- 
poral salvation ! It was because of the earnest efforts 
of Brother Chase and those of his class in this country, 
that the pulpit at last became open to the voice of Tem- 
perance, whether it used the lips of a man or of a woman 
in the expression of its measurably Apocalyptic message. 
Brother Chase went into the fight for temperance on 
moral, not on religious grounds ; then he went further, 
and demanded equality of the sexes and freedom for the 
slave ! Of him it might be said, as of one of old time, 
6 the common people heard him gladly ' ; his long life had 
been devoted to the righting of their wrongs, with a sturdy 
fidelity which told that underlying principles, not the 
shifting influences of i every breath of doctrine,' were at 
work in his mind. 

" Dr. Storer recommended that all who had not should 
read the book of Brother Chase, entitled ' Life Line of 
the Lone One,' and also keep in mind the sequel thereto 
which he is about to bring out ; since by such action they 
would become much better acquainted with the true and 
sterling merits of his (C.'s) character than any words of 
the speaker could accomplish toward making them so. 

"The little stream which took its rise among the rugged 
hills of New Hampshire three-quarters of a century ago 
had since spread from the Atlantic to the Pacific, had 
extended into every department of reform connected with 
human progress and well-being ; and the present assembly 



THE SPIEITUAL ROSTRUM. 205 

was convened to bear witness to the practical worth of its 
enduring influence. 

" Dr. Storer noted the disappointing absence of Hor- 
ace Seaver, Esq., and then said he had a letter to read 
(which would explain itself) from another, who, purpos- 
ing to attend, had been rendered unable so to do through 
illness : — 

"Banner of Light Office, Boston, Mass., 
Jan. 5, 1888. 

" Dear Mr. Chase : We congratulate you that Dame Nature 
has kept you physically intact up to the present time ; we are 
thankful to the spirit-world forces for thus protecting and 
encouraging you in your able advocacy of the grand movement 
through whose revealments we and others have for many years, 
and in the midst of much tribulation, sought to enlighten a 
benighted world. 

" Your forty years of incessant labors, by both voice and pen, 
all over this country, in conjunction with other able co-workers, 
have resulted in placing before mankind a mighty truth — no 
more nor less than the grand fact of immortality ; the fact of 
direct spirit communion between the world of causes and the 
world of effects ; the fact that we still live after the dissolution 
of our physical bodies. 

" Should you pass to spirit-life ere we are called up higher, it 
is our earnest wish that you report to us promptly. Should we 
go first, we shall make it a point to report to you whenever the 
first opportunity offers. 

" Enclosed you will find material evidence of the appreciation 
in which you are held by 

" Your humble servant, 

"Luther Colby. 

" N.B. — I should have been present in the form at your 
ovation had not illness prevented. 

u Mr. J. T. Lillie then favored the audience with a fine 
vocal selection, after which Miss Lucy Baruicoat was 
introduced to the people. 

" Miss Barnicoat prefaced her remarks by reading l My 
Birthday,' by the poet Whittier, and then proceeded to 



206 FOBTY YEARS ON 

note, in advance, the fact that as it was due to the efforts 
of Mr. Chase, and such as he, in the past, that women 
had found admission to the public rostrums of the several 
reforms, the presence of Mrs. Lillie and herself on an 
occasion like this was eminently appropriate. She spoke 
of the service which she personally knew Mr. Chase had 
performed, at camp meetings in Maine and elsewhere, 
where she had met him, and where the young admired him, 
the middle-aged appreciated him, and the old honored 
him. 

" She regretted the enforced absence of Mr. Colby, 
whom she considered a valued personal friend and a stal- 
wart bulwark of the cause of Spiritualism which was so 
dear to the hearts of those present. 

" She closed by thanking all who had given the encour- 
agement of their presence to this testimonial, and by the 
expression of hearty wishes for the success of Brother 
Chase in the future. 

" Dr. Paxson, of Philadelphia, gave several interesting 
personal reminiscences of the temperance and anti-slav- 
ery reforms and reformers, and bore witness to the fear- 
lessness which Brother Chase had ever manifested in the 
expression of his views all along the line. He (the Doc- 
tor) had found that a man, firm in his convictions, and 
calm but determined in their presentation, would as a rule 
escape from permanent injury when brought into collision 
with heated opponents. Dr. P. had been, himself, tried 
in that furnace, when a Philadelphia mob threatened to 
burn his house over his head because he had at the time 
William Lloyd Garrison as a guest ; he refused to turn 
that great apostle out of doors at the cry of the rioters, 
but his house was not destroyed, after all ! The mighty 
inspiration of that hour had gone onward, and Spiritual- 
ism was now its point of objective expression ; he adjured 
all to be true to its uplifting power ; prophesying that by 



THE SPIRITUAL ROSTRUM. 207 

the aid of female intuition, which the New Dispensation 
had so strongly emphasized in its public work, the charac- 
ter of men and nations would be thoroughly changed ere 
another century had passed away. 

" Mrs. J. T. Lillie spoke of Brother Chase as one who 
by the peculiar conditions attending his early life, had 
been commissioned to right the wrongs of women, and 
thus do valiant work for the good of general humanity. 
She compared him to John the Baptist, crying in the des- 
ert of human scepticism forty years ago : ' Prepare ye 
the way for Spiritualism — the revelation of immortal life, 
and sure progression for all mankind.' Her controls 
then delivered an inspirational poem appropriate to the 
occasion, and instinct with recognition of what the guest 
of the evening had accomplished for the cause when once 
it had made its cheering advent. 

" Mr. Lillie then sang, ; One Hundred Years to Come,' 
and on being encored, gave in response, fi My Sweetheart 
when a Boy.' 

"Mr. Chase followed; he was warmly received, and 
commenced with congratulating himself : There was a 
vast improvement in his conditions over those which 
existed early one morning amid the bleak hills of New 
Hampshire seventy-five years ago. He had then been 
ushered, at the very threshold of life, into a moral and 
social atmosphere which equalled in keenness and cruelty 
the wintry blasts that swept the gloomy heights around, 
and found none to welcome him to the mortal plane save 
his mother. 

u The life of hardship to which he was exposed in his 
earlier years had produced a lasting impression on all his 
subsequent career, making him, through a fellow-feeling 
of sympathy, always a friend of the poor and the op- 
pressed on every hand. He had thus been led to cham- 
pion anti-slavery, temperance, woman suffrage, and had 



208 FORTY YEARS ON 

in turn, according to his light, been a materialist, and 
latterly — for the forty years just closed — a Spiritualist, 
and a platform advocate of the claims of the New Dis- 
pensation. It had been mentioned during the evening by 
a lady speaker, that he had been privileged to do a great 
work toward opening the platform to women and break- 
ing up the prejudice which had so long existed against 
woman's speaking in public ; and, judging by the remarks 
which had been made by the lad}^ speakers on the present 
occasion, and the eloquent sentences for justice and re- 
form which were finding expression from the women of 
the present day, he was proud to have so grand a compli- 
ment paid to his life labors. * Perfect equality between 
the sexes ' had been his motto for half a century, and he 
should hold to it till his life on earth was done. The 
principle involved in this motto, he believed, would be- 
come world-wide in its power as years proceeded. 

" He announced that by reason of unexpected deten- 
tion, Horace Seaver, Esq., the venerable editor of the 
Boston Investigator (whose presence had been expected) , 
had not been able to attend. He was much interested in 
the Investigator, as it was the first paper with which he 
(C.) had had any journalistic experience; his first arti- 
cle on Spiritualism was published in the columns of the 
Investigator, before there were any Spiritualist papers ; 
both himself and Mr. Seaver had been progressing since 
their acquaintance ; he had known that gentlemen when 
he (S.) was calling on men to 'come to Jesus' to be 
saved, and when he (the speaker) was teaching exactly 
the materialistic views which Brother S. now entertained ; 
but since then he (C.) had stepped forward and taken up 
the knowledge of immortal life from and through the 
demonstrations of Modern Spiritualism, while Mr. S. had 
become an agnostic; thus both were moving progres- 



THE SPIRITUAL EOSTRUM. 209 

sively over the same track, though he (C.) thought he 
was as much in advance as ever of Brother Seaver. 

"He regarded the service of the Investigator in the 
past as having been of great value — by its stalwart 
denials of then generally accepted views — in clearing 
away the rubbislx, and preparing the ground for Spirit- 
ualism in its modern advent. Its work had, therefore, 
not been one of negation alone, but was full of a grand 
activity. 

" He spoke of the old leaders of spiritual thought who 
had gone to higher life since he took upon himself the 
responsibilities attending the promulgation of the new 
truth ; and said, when the ground had been prepared, 
and the time had become ripe, the angels raised up his 
friend and brother, Luther Colby, who had fought the 
fight for Spiritualism with his Banner ever turned toward 
the sun ; amidst' abuse the most virulent, and suspicions 
and misrepresentations the most cruel, that brother had 
maintained his way victoriously, and still held up the 
Banner to the breezes that blow in upon us from over 
the borders of the heavenly land. The speaker had an 
abiding friendship for Brother Colby, which the fleeting 
years of this transitory life were totally inadequate to 
measure. 

" He spoke appreciatively of his mother, and what she 
had tried to do for him ; of the aid and comfort which the 
spirit world had extended to him in the past through hun- 
dreds of mediums ; and of the inspirations which came to 
him personally, and ofttimes from the denizens of the 
higher life. He referred to the political triumphs which 
had been accorded him in several States of the Union, 
and said whatever position he had held in the past as to 
public office, he never for a moment had hidden his views, 
but had openly lectured on Sundays upon Spiritualism 



210 FORTY YEARS ON 

and its revelations, and he was sure his outspoken course 
in this regard had done him no harm. 

" He believed that Modern Spiritualism, if fully under- 
stood, — as its primal facts were sure to be in coming 
time, — would elevate and purify the race till angels and 
men, unfettered by present untoward conditions, would 
clasp hands in practical efforts to rid the world of poverty 
and crime. 

"He closed his remarks with a feeling expression of 
thanks to all present who had assembled to bid him fare- 
well previous to his removal to his Western home. 

"The meeting closed with a few appropriate words 
from Chairman Storer, and the audience then resolved 
itself into a ' committee of the whole ' on hand-shaking 
with and general congratulation of the venerable guest of 
the evening." 



SCRAPS FROM MY SCRAP-BOOK. 

" The biggest coward in the world is that man who 
takes grumbles instead of kind words home to his wife 
and family." 

"Every grown person who is afraid to die is unfit to 
live." 

"A majority of our greatest blessings come from dis- 
appointments." 

" When some Christians reach the judgment-seat, they 
will wish they had run their religion through a fanning- 
mill before they left home." 

" Not one man in ten dares to express his honest opin- 
ion of the man he talks to. Not one in five tells the truth 
of him he is talking of." 



THE SPIRITUAL ROSTRUM. 211 

" At the dedication of an Episcopal church in Denver, 
Col., the dean stated that the sons of God who were the 
founders of the church there, and who were called home to 
heaven, and of the first twelve who went, and who were 
buried by good Father Kehler, two were executed for 
murder, five were shot, one shot himself, one died of 
delirium tremens, and only three died natural deaths." 

"A little Boston boy was brought into court for a 
witness in Cincinnati, O., and the question arose as. to his 
knowing the nature of an oath, and the judge questioned 
him. ' Well, Wendell, do you know where bad little 
boys go when they die?' i No, sir,' he replied. i Good- 
ness gracious! don't you know they will go to hell?' 
'No, sir; do you?' 'Of course I do.' 'How do you 
know it?' 'The Bible says so.' 'Is it true?' 'Cer- 
tainly it is.' ' Can you prove it? ' ' No, not positively ; 
we take it on faith.' ' Do you accept that kind of testi- 
mony in this court?' asked the boy. The judge did not 
answer, but turned the boy over to the lawyers for his 
testimony." 

" So sometimes comes to soul and sense 
The feeling which is evidence 
That very near about us lies 
The realm of spiritual mysteries : 
The sphere of the supernal powers 
Impinges on this world of ours." 

" A wonderful thing is a seed, 

The one thing deathless forever ; 
The one thing changeless, utterly true, 
Forever old, forever new, 

And fickle and faithless never." 



212 FORTY YEARS ON 

44 The cherished ones for whom we mourn 

As lost in death's embrace, 
Are living still in realms of bliss, 

In God's eternal space. 
Then let your voices sweetly blend, 

This grand old anthem sing, 
4 O grave, where is thy victory? 

O death, where is thy sting ?'" 

44 The love that binds two hearts in one 
Cannot be broken by death, 
But united again in the heavenly zone 
Shall renew the affections of earth." 

44 The groom lies parted from the bride, 
But life and love that here divide 
Are joined upon the other side." 

44 Twenty years ago no photograph was more often seen 
than that of President Lincoln sitting with a big book on 
his knee, and his little son Ted standing beside him and 
looking at it with him. The book has been thought to be 
a Bible, but it was not. It was photographer Brady's 
picture album which the President was examining with 
his son while some ladies stood by. The artist begged 
the President to remain quiet, and the picture was taken. 
This has been largely used to prove that President Lincoln 
explained the Bible to his boy, and, of course, believed it 
sacred, which he never did." 

44 Do not keep the alabaster boxes of your love and 
tenderness sealed up until your friends are dead. Fill 
their lives with sweetness. Speak approving, cheering 
words while their ears can hear them and while their 
hearts can be cheered by them. The words you mean to 
say when they are gone, say before they go. The flowers 



THE SPIRITUAL ROSTRUM. 213 

you mean to send for their coffins, send to brighten and 
sweeten their homes before they leave them. I would 
rather have a bare coffin, without a flower, and funeral 
without a eulogy, than a life without the sweetness of love 
and s} T mpathy. Flowers on a coffin cast no fragrance 
backward over the weary days." 

" The matrons of ancient Greece and Rome adorned 
their rooms with the finest paintings and statuary, repre- 
senting physical strength and perfection, they could obtain, 
and they became the mothers of a race of heroes. Many 
women of to-day have as the leading feature of their rooms 
their pug dogs, and the result is a race of dudes." 

" Some books are lies from end to end, 
And some great lies were never penned." 

" 'Tis pleasant sure to see one's name in print ; 
A book's a book although there's nothing in't." 

" Cards were invented in 1392 to divert the melancholy 
of Charles VI. of France. The four suits are supposed 
to represent the four orders of the state : hearts, the 
church ; spades, the military order of nobility ; diamonds, 
the mercantile part ; and clubs, the peasantry." 

" When men speak ill of thee, live so no one will be- 
lieve them." — Plato. 

"The most dangerous of wild beasts is the slanderer; 
of tame ones, the flatterer." 

" He is a worthless being wno lives only for himself." 

" They declaim most against the world who have sinned 
most against it, as people generally abuse those they have 
injured." 



214 FORTY YEARS ON 

" That which to-day is not begun 
Is on the morrow still undone." 

A sensible prayer by the chaplain of the House of 
Representatives, in Congress, March 27, 1887 : — 

"Give ear, O God of Jacob, and awaken us to see 
the clanger which threatens the civilized world with a 
revolution more tremendous than any of which history 
tells, in which the scenes of the reign of terror may be 
enacted in every capital of Europe and America. For 
long the few have mastered the many, because they under- 
stood how to use them ; but now the many have learned 
the secret of organization, drill, and dynamite. Rouse 
the rich of the world to understand that the time has 
come for grinding, selfish monopoly to cease ; that corpo- 
rations may get souls in them with justice, honor, con- 
science, and human kindness. Teach the rich men of 
this country that great fortunes are lent them by Thee for 
other purposes than to build and decorate palaces, to 
found private collections of art, to stock wine-cellars, to 
keep racing steeds and yachts, and find better company 
than hostlers, grooms and jockeys, pool- sellers and book- 
markers. Teach them, O God, that it is Thee who has 
given them the power to get these fortunes ; that it is to 
prove them, to know what is in their hearts, whether they 
will keep thy commandments or no, and that those com- 
mandments are, ' Thou shalt love the Lord thy jGod with 
all thy heart, and thy neighbor as thyself ' ; that if the 
rich men of this land keep these commandments, the 
poor will follow the example, and we at last will be saved 
from the days of tribulation that are fast coming on the 
world. Help us, O God, and save us." 

I do not think the God of Jacob heard the prayer, or 
could change the policy of the monopolists, if he did ; and 
the rich have not heeded it. 



THE SPIRITUAL ROSTRUM. 215 

A new version of the Lord's Prayer, recently published 
in Rome about the time of the (Ecumenical Council : — 

" Our Father who art in the Vatican ; Infallible be thy 
name ; Thy temporal sovereignty come ; Thy will be done 
in Europe and America as it is in Ireland ; Giye us this 
day our tithes and titles, and forgive us our trespasses as 
we give plenary indulgence to those who pay penitently 
unto us ; and lead us not into (Ecumenical Councils, but 
deliver us from thinking ; for thine is the crozier, the key, 
and the tiara, Rome without end. Amen." This seems 
to be for the priests only. 

" There's a germ of good in every ill, 
Like the bur of the nut with the meat in it still." 

Hindoo prayer: "O God, have mercy on the wicked 
and unjust, as thou hast already had mercy on the just and 
innocent." 

"Man's demands are God's commands." 

Henry G. Wright. 

"I do not hate the man who has rheumatism, but I 
hate the rheumatism that has the man." — R. G. Ingersoll. 

"I do not hate an orthodox preacher, but I hate the 
doctrines he teaches, and is bound by, in his articles of 
faith." 

" He can't be wrong whose life is in the right." 

" Praises on tombs are titles vainly spent ; 
A man's good name is his best monument." 

" To do good is to be good." 

" Is it love that commits the murders in jealousy?" 

" Is God love, or love the god of this world? " 



216 FORTY YEAES ON 

" An Address to the Voters of Santa Barbara County. 

" Since the passage of the Act calling a Constitutional 
Convention for the State, I have been repeatedly and 
constantly urged by many citizens of the county to sub- 
mit my name to you as an independent candidate for that 
Convention. Believing my experience in two Constitu- 
tional Conventions and two sessions of a State Senate, 
together with thirty-five years of public discussion through 
the press and on the rostrum, of the questions involved 
in Constitutional and Statute Law, in which I have ever 
taken the side of the people and the producers against 
tyranny, monopoly, bigotry, and oppression, I have, and 
hereby do, submit my name for your suffrages. 

" Should you elect me to that office, I can assure you 
that whatever ability I possess will be faithfully used to 
secure equal justice to all citizens, to restrict and control 
monopolies and corporations of all kinds in the interests 
of the people, and to prevent by constitutional provision 
those unjust laws which have so largely driven the wealth 
of this new State into the hands of the few, for the sup- 
port of which condition, they have imported Mongolian 
labor to reduce our own citizens to their standard of labor 
and domestic life, and have kept out of the State a large 
population that desire to make homes among us and 
would be most valuable, industrious citizens, for which 
the whole State has most ample room. 

"As the time is so short that I cannot meet many of you, 
I shall be glad, so far as I can, both in public and pri- 
vate, to give you my views on any question that may rise 
in said Convention, and should be glad to have every 
voter know my opinions and vote understanding^ for or 
against me, as I do not desire to be elected to misrepre- 
sent any constituency. Warren Chase. 

" Santa Barbara, Cal., May 21, 1878." 

Defeated by the Circuit Judge and efforts of both political parties. 



THE SPIRITUAL ROSTRUM. 217 

The following is from my reply to W. F. Jamieson, 
published in Light for Thinkers, Atlanta, Ga. : — 

" We agree on so many points there seems little neces- 
sity of a controversy over one or two Ifs which we both 
admit to exist. We both agree that all forms are ephem- 
eral, and all matter in its essential state is eternal. We 
both agree that whatever has one end has two, whether 
measured in time of duration or extension of space. We 
both agree that the existence of spirits in forms is no 
more evidence of eternal life than the existence of forms 
in this life. We both agree that while the forms dissolve 
and disappear, no particle of the matter is lost or annihi- 
lated. We both agree that the essential elements into 
which forms are changed by dissolution, are as really ma- 
terial as when combined in the form. We both agree 
that material bodies cannot be moved or controlled by 
nothing, and that matter only can act on matter. We 
both agree that the material in the universe never has 
been, and never can be, increased or decreased in quantity. 
We both agree that belief in the human mind is involun- 
tary, and hence we cannot be accountable for it. Now 
after this agreement is it strange that we should, from 
a wide range of different experiences, arrive at different 
conclusions on some subjects in points of both belief and 
knowledge. We both admit the senses to be the channel 
through which we derive all knowledge in this life ; and as 
we do not have the same experiences and evidences 
through these senses, one may know what the other does 
not, and what the other may not have sufficient evidence 
to believe. Here we may part on the evidence which to 
me is sufficient to enable me to know that spirits live and 
communicate." 



218 FORTY YEARS ON 

The articles from this point to page 266 were written 
and contributed by me to the Spiritual Offering ^ formerly 
published at Ottumwa, Iowa. 

"The Word of God — What is it? 

" I think the New Testament says, Jesus, who was the 
Christ (or Kreshna), was the only begotten Son of God, 
and that he was the Word, and that the word was with 
God, and the word was God, and came on earth and dwelt 
among men, and that he said, ' Before the world was I 
am.' I do not pretend to quote word for word, but think 
I do not misrepresent. Now if Jesus was begotten he did 
not exist before he was begotten, and certainly could not 
be a word or the word and come to earth before he was 
begotten, and hence the Old Testament could not be the 
word of God if Jesus was the word or ' Holy Bible — book 
divine, precious treasure, thou art mine' [fetich], — which 
so many hug to their hearts and pray over in times of 
fear and trouble, and which with their prayers has as 
much and no more effect in case of cyclones, earthquakes, 
and pestilence than would the hugging of a wooden image 
and praying to Jupiter Ammon. Talmage and Moody, 
Harrison, Sam Jones and Sam Small, and a score of other 
revival cranks read the stories of Noah and the ark, of 
Jonah and the fish, of Balaam and his beast, of Samson 
and his Delilah, of Job and his Satan, of Daniel and his 
lions, of Elisha and his bears, and lots of other nonsense 
in the Old Testament, and try to make their ignorant 
hearers believe what they do not believe themselves, — 
that all this is the word of God, and must be true, and 
must be believed and accepted as truth, however ridiculous 
it may seem. As all in the book is the word of God, the 
words said to be spoken through Satan are words of God, 
and it was God who spoke through Balaam's beast, and 
the words which Samuel spoke after he was dead were the 



THE SPIRITUAL ROSTPwUM. 219 

words of God, and those the medium spoke at the time 
were God's words, and all words in both Old and New 
Testaments are words of God, through whatever channel 
uttered, even those from the devils that Jesus cast out, 
and those spoken to Jesus on the mountain and pinnacle 
of the temple. 

" If Jesus was himself the word of God and was God, 
I do not see how any other words could be. I do not see 
how the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, and 
the Acts, written by no one knows who or when, can be 
the word of God, since they certainly are not Jesus nor his 
words. They are -evidently somebody's words full of 
contradictions and widely different stories of events not 
authenticated by any reliable history of the times to which 
they refer. They are said to be ' according to,' but no 
one knows how much they accord or how much they 
differ from the original stories, if there were any original 
stories or events. If they had been written or even 
superintended by God, they would have told straight 
stories, and agreed at least in the history and genealogy 
(if he had any) of his only begotten Son and the mother. 
Were the words which John, the Patmos crank, which 
he said he heard spoken in heaven, when he looked in 
and saw the dragon and the vials of wrath, the words of 
God? 

"If any part of the Bible contains words of God, it 
would be wise to have these words separated from the rest 
and put in a book by themselves ; but to me none are." 

" The Cyclones. 
" When I read of religious revivals and especial provi- 
dences of God, and the partiality of the Christian's God 
to different sectarian churches in aiding them to build up 
societies and temples, and hear or read of their prayers, 
praises, and thanks to their God of mercy and charity and 



220 FORTY YEARS ON 

universal love toward all of his children, and especially 
little children, who are invited to come to church and 
receive his blessings and love, and then read of the terri- 
ble cyclones, railroad accidents, pestilence, famine, and 
misery caused by drunken fathers and husbands, where 
innocent persons, largely children, who have committed no 
crime, suffer, I wonder where this merciful and loving 
God is, with his special providences that help to build 
churches and support preachers and keep up revivals. 

" These questions arise in my mind, which I wish our 
clergy to answer, as I cannot : — Did this loving and mer- 
ciful God know of these cyclones and other terrible 
calamities, in which the innocent suffer, or did he not? 
If he did, could he stop or prevent them by a special 
providence, such as he used to convert Sam Jones or 
Sam Small and other sinners, and by which he- saved 
guilty persons from death and hell? Can he intercept 
natural law and control it, or is it above his reach or 
power? If he can, is it not a lack of goodness and mercy 
that he does not do it? Was he present and looking on 
at these cyclones, or absent? Would prayers or masses 
have any effect in inducing him to avert these calamities 
if he could? Do the masses said on the Pacific coast 
prevent the earthquakes that disturbed that region before 
Archbishop Zadoc ordered them in 1879? If so, why 
not apply the same remedy to cyclones on this side of the 
Rocky ridge? If this merciful God must have cyclones 
to show his power, why not let them fall on the saloons 
and dens of vice and wickedness? Can this Christian 
God do as he pleases with cyclones? If so, 'his ways 
are not as our ways.' Does this God do anything to 
alleviate the sufferings and misery caused by these ter- 
rible calamities? Are the Christian worshippers of this 
God any more charitable and kind in such cases than 
those who do not believe in him or the Bible? If he 



*—m 



THE SPIRITUAL ROSTRUM. 221 

cannot prevent them, he lacks power ; if he will not, he 
lacks goodness and mercy : let Christians answer which." 

4 ' Sin — What is it ? 

" Everybody is supposed to know what sin is, and 
yet there is no well-defined meaning to the word. Lexi- 
cographers define it to be a transgression of divine law, a 
neglect of duty, etc. No two distinct religions in the 
world define divine law alike ; and most of our Christian 
sects differ on the subject, as they do on duty, etc. ; so it 
may be safely said no one knows just what sin is, or what 
duty is such as God requires of us ; hence, no one can 
know when he or she is sinning unless we go by con- 
science, which, being a creature of education, is in great 
variety. Most Christians will admit that a premeditated 
and cold-blooded murder is a sin, and yet most of them 
will join in wars, which are premeditated and cold- 
blooded, — wholesale murders of innoceutTpersons, — and 
they will pray for victories, which can only be obtained 
hy murder. They will also uphold the gallows, which 
certainly is a premeditated and cold-blooded murder. 
Even in private murder, which the law punishes, and 
which they call a sin, our churches hold that the sinner 
may be forgiven without punishment (except that the 
law inflicts), by confession to God and repentance, which 
comes from the murder of the innocent Jesus, who con- 
sented to be murdered for our sins, as an atonement to 
appease the wrath of God. If Roman Catholicism is the 
true religion, all are sinners who do not attend mass and 
make confessions to their priests ; and they also have a 
longer list of sins than any other sect of Christians. 
Most churches have what they call sins of omission and 
sins of commission. I suppose all or any are fatal if not 
forgiven through the blood of Christ. Most Christians 
teach that all people are sinners by nature, having in- 



222 FORTY YEARS ON 

herited a totally depraved nature from the Adam parent 
of all nations, — black, white, red, and yellow; so by 
this doctrine all are sinners, even if they commit no sin- 
ful act. How much of this is atoned for by the death 
of Christ is a matter of dispute among Christians. The 
Romanists have the power of forgiveness handed down 
to the Pope, and through him to the under-officers down 
to the priests ; they can get any sin forgiven, and they 
declare none can be forgiven except through their church, 

" Outside the churches there is no definite meaning to 
the word ; sin,' as it is purely a church word ; and they 
hold all outsiders to be sinners, and are constantly calling 
people to 4 come out and be separate from sinners and 
sin,' which means, Come and join our church. There are 
no outward signs that church members are better or less 
wicked in the aggregate in our country than those who 
make no profession of religion. If we turn to conscience 
for a guide, how wonderful is the variety ! 

" To me it would be a sin to use tobacco in any form 
internally, or to get intoxicated, and yet a large majority 
of those around me would not include the use of tobacco, 
if they did the other. I should have no faith in Jesus 
forgiving me for either of these sins. I do not believe 
there is any sin against God, or that we can violate his 
law, but it will violate us if we put ourselves in conflict 
with it, as we do in using tobacco or getting intoxicated. 
There is said to be a sin against the Holy Ghost. To me 
my own soul is my holy ghost, and I try never to sin 
against that, as I could not expect forgiveness. If sin is 
doing wrong, we should have a uniform and reliable 
standard of wrong, and certainly there is none. I can- 
not allow any priest to fix a standard of right and wrong 
for me, nor could I submit to any but the one within me, 
which may be called conscience. I could not find any 
authority in the commandments said to be given by the 



THE SPIRITUAL ROSTRUM. 223 

Jewish God, and which he almost invariably commanded 
them to break — by murders and in many other ways. 
Neither can I accept the New Testament authority which 
makes involuntary belief a virtue, and unbelief — equally 
involuntary — a sin. Such sins are not sins to me. If the 
word is made to cover all acts not in accord with natural 
laws, then any injury to ourselves or our fellow-creatures 
is a sin, and I can see no reason or justice in a third and 
innocent person dying to atone for such acts." 

"What Has Spiritualism Done? 

44 When I began to lecture on the existence of spirits 
and their ability to communicate with us through some 
persons in certain peculiar conditions, which was in 
1847, and soon after the publication of our first and best 
book of communications, ' Nature's Divine Revelations, ' 
through A. J. Davis, and which confirmed some of my 
own experience, and that of others with whom I was in 
correspondence, there were probably from three hundred 
to five hundred in the United States who believed in mod- 
ern spirit intercourse, and very few even of these kneiv it, 
as millions do now. Now there are not less than five 
millions that knoiv it is true, and many more who believe 
it on testimony, but who have not the knowledge through 
their senses, the only source of knowledge. 

" At the start, and before the raps, there was very little 
clerical opposition, though I had a discussion with H. H. 
Vanamringe, a clergyman, on the spiritual origin of the 
messages in that book, he denouncing it because it had no 
Christ in it, and nothing from Christ. This was before 
the Fox girls began to talk with ' Old Splitfoot.' Up to 
a short time before the issue of the book referred to, I 
had no evidence of a future life that was to me in any 
w r ay reliable, the same being the condition of many thou- 



224 FORTY YEARS ON" 

sands who have since had positive proof of a continued 
existence beyond death, and have prepared for it in ac- 
cordance with advice and instruction from friends living 
there, instead of relying on the foolish and conflicting 
theories of the churches. Spiritualism has made many 
thousands happy by imparting this knowledge ; a good 
work, the value of which cannot be estimated. The 
opposition of the clergy, backed as usual by the vulgar 
and profane rabble, began very soon after the rapping 
and other modes of intercourse brought to us direct in- 
formation, differing from the teachings of all sects of 
Christians, which relating to that life were false and 
utterly unreliable. Of course this endangered the entire 
basis of all creeds, and put the preachers and their sala- 
ries in danger ; and as our numbers increased and our 
evidences increased, as they yet do in a geometrical ratio, 
our enemies became more bitter. Seeing as they did the 
natural results and just deductions based on these mes- 
sages, they were compelled to modify their sermons, and 
leave hell entirely out, with its devil, and to drop many 
other of the absurdities, so that a great part of the good 
Spiritualism has done has been in the churches, and the 
preachers, in modifying sermons and general belief 
among Christians." 

"Who was Jesus? Who was the Christ? 

" Th& prolific but unreliable Christian historian, Good- 
rich, says, according to the best authorities Jesus 
Christ was born in the twenty-sixth year of the reign of 
Augustus Caesar, four years before the date of our Chris- 
tian era, which is founded on the fabulous record of his 
birth. So the old Catholic Church, founded in the third 
century, fixed the date of his birth and founded our time- 
tables on it. How comes it that Protestants have to set 



/ i 



THE SPIRITUAL ROSTRUM. 225 

it back four years? It is supposed to be because Herod, 
the last king of the Jews, had died four years before the 
date fixed by the Church for the birth of Jesus. This sets 
aside the fabulous story of the edict of this king against 
the boys, to escape which Mary and Joseph fled into 
Egypt for the safety of God's son, as the power which 
had so often and so miraculously saved King David, and 
others like David, seemed to have ceased to be used. 

" This writer, Goodrich, says, after his return from 
Egypt Jesus dwelt with his parents. Not God, who is now 
reputed to be his father, but with Joseph, through whom, 
the record says, he was descended lineally from David, 
that the Scripture might be fulfilled, and his wife, the 
celebrated Mary who ceased to be a virgin when married, 
as all unmarried women then and there were called virgins, 
and no others. This author further says that from Nazareth, 
where he lived with his parents at the age of twelve years, 
he made his celebrated journey of about six miles to Jeru- 
salem, and confounded the priests as any twelve-year old 
scholar in our time can our priests. After that he went 
back and worked with his earthly father till about thirty 
years of age, in obscurity. Rather a singular experience 
for a God who was the God of all the universe ! A very 
slight and unreliable story of one or two miracles was all 
known or heard of him in these long } T ears, while thou- 
sands of poor sinners were dying daily, with no hope of a 
resurrection or of salvation, and yet the Saviour was right 
among them, quietly working at a trade which he is sup- 
posed to have mastered, and abandoned when he took to 
preaching. This author further says there never was 
but one church in the world. If so, it must have been 
the Catholic, and all others are now heresies. If what 
this author says was the mission of Christ on earth is 
correct, it is, and ever must be, a failure, as it is an im- 
possibility. As there is no Roman or Jewish contempo- 



226 FORTY YEARS ON 

raneous history of any such person as the Christ, there is 
ample room for speculative theorists to fix dates and 
events with no positive authority to contradict theru satis- 
factorily to those who are trained from childhood to accept 
any testimony of the existence and marvels attached to 
him, with scarcely a scrap or scrip written within one 
hundred years after the dates fixed for the occurrences. 
Everybody should read the Apocrypha of the New Testa- 
ment to strengthen or reduce a belief in the person and 
miracles recorded in the canonical." 

"The Lord and Satan — Which? 

" Our priests on Bible authority assure us that God for- 
bade man to eat of the tree of knowledge, and Satan per- 
suaded him to eat ; and as the fruit was not poisonous, he 
did not die from that cause, as God had told him he 
would, but long after from a natural cause. By this dis- 
obedience of God and persuasion of Satan he arose, 
named the beasts and had shame, which he before had 
not, and learned to clothe himself, which he never had, and 
in fact gained all the advantages and superiority he has 
ever attained over the beasts which did not disobey God. 
By this knowledge he has been able to select articles suit- 
able* for food and medicine, and exclude poisons and evils 
like tobacco and alcohol when he has knowledge enough 
to avoid them. There can be no conjecture of what the 
race would have been if Adam had obeyed God instead of 
Satan. The same Bible authority says God ordered man 
not to kill, and soon after ordered his chosen people to 
commit the most cruel and unjustifiable wholesale murders 
that were ever ordered on earth, such as Satan never was 
guilty of by any record we have of such a being. We 
were for a long time assured by the authorities of the 
Church that Satan was the inventor of printing, which was 



THE SPIRITUAL ROSTRUM. 227 

to destroy the Holy Bible by giving it to the people to 
discuss and wrangle over. We pass over many valuable 
discoveries charged to Satan, and finding none credited 
to God, we give Satan the preference in conferring favors 
on mankind, especially since his last great and good work 
in opening to us the intercourse between the two worlds 
in Modern Spiritualism, as this is still by most priests 
laid to the Satan of our time, which, we suppose, is the 
same one that tempted Eve. Our Catholic Church has 
discovered that our godless public schools where children 
get knowledge are wicked and Satanic, and hence take 
out their children and put them where knowledge is 
limited and proscribed." 

"Is the Leaven Working? 

" Every year and every month, if not every day, there 
are new converts made by our mediums to the knowledge 
of spirit life and spirit intercourse, or to the latter if they 
were already aware of the former. So far this leaven is 
working among those in and those out of the various 
churches, and when on those in the churches, of course it 
brings them new light which is thrown on the next life, 
and it seems to me it cannot fasten them in or to any of 
their creeds or doctrines of the life after death. WhalT 
puzzles me and what this article is after is, how those 
already free from all creeds can go into the bondage and 
join a church that has a creed, utterly and entirely in con- 
flict with the united testimony of the spirits that commu- 
nicate with us. 

"A respectable if not a large number of those who 
know the truth of spirit intercourse have joined the 
Universalist churches, no doubt somewhat crowded that 
way for want of society and social life, which I acknowl- 
edge we sadly lack in many places ; but how any one, 



228 FOKTY YEAKS ON 

after hearing many times from the spirit world, can join 
a church that has a trinity in its personal Godhead and 
three persons in one, each and all without body or parts, 
and yet personal in each and in the union, and also holds 
strictly to original sin, for which .Jesus atoned by his 
death and on which our salvation depends, is the puzzle. 

"A still more respectable number have joined the 
Unitarians, seeking for society in the ' cultured free 
thought' of that church, where there are not nearly as 
many absurd mysteries connected with the Godhead or 
even personality, and where they do not teach so much 
nonsense about Abraham's bosom and the arms of Jesus 
and gold-paved streets of the New Jerusalem ; but still 
they are Christians and take in the Bible with its descrip- 
tion of heaven where John saw the seven angels, each 
with a vial of wrath to pour out on this earth, and seven 
more with seven trumpets to blow destruction on the 
earth ; also the dragon and the great beast and many 
other marvellous sights, none of which our spirit friends 
have seen, not even Jehovah sitting on his throne with 
twenty-four elders and the beast for personal guards. 
To me it looks strangely ridiculous with others who have 
not the knowledge he has, for a rational person, after 
hearing from the spirit world, joining in support of such 
nonsense and those who teach it. 

" Brother R. P. Ambler backed into one of these 
churches in the early days of Spiritualism, and several of 
our speakers have followed, and yet I do not see that they 
have leavened the Universalist church or its creed, and 
the Unitarians are certainly far ahead of them, as they 
always have been, and yet we have not leavened that sect. 
Past experience and history will satisfy any one that 
some churches will take in anything, as the fish did 
Jonah in the fable, if it will not disrupt them or break up 
their societies and set their creed and preachers aside ; so 



—i 



THE SPIRITUAL ROSTRUM. 229 

if they can get help from Spiritualists to support their 
system, they will gladly take them in, and I think they 
are generally taken in if not thrown out as # Jonah was. 
I am satisfied that we shall never leaven the churches by 
going into them and subscribing to their creeds and by 
supporting them and their doctrines so entirely at variance 
with what the spirits teach about the life they live. I 
shall not walk into any of these parlors, as the fly does 
into those fitted ior it, but will still watch for the leaven 
to work outside sectarian bonds." 

" Survival of the Fittest. 

;c Slowly the laws of nature are asserting and establish- 
ing their superiority over the perversions and antagonisms 
of man. The hell fire of alcohol is fast burning out the 
lives of those who take it in to pervert the reason, stupefy 
the faculties, and destroy the moral rectitude of the con- 
science. The longer life, better life, happier life of those 
who wholly abstain from it, is fast gaining the ascendency 
in our country through efforts now made to expose its evil 
effects, after a long time of its rapid progress in corrupt- 
ing the morals and distracting the reason of millions of 
American citizens, and causing an immense amount of 
crime and expense for the innocent to pay for the punish- 
ment of, and that too often a failure. Close observers of 
society can see in this direction the working of this prin- 
ciple in society, and we may look for greater results from 
the education of the children in our schools on the sub- 
ject of alcohol and its effects. Another step in this line 
of progress is a knowledge of the evil effects of tobacco, 
that slow poison that steadily saps the foundation of 
natural health and plays havoc with the nerves, setting 
them into a tremulous motion, and ultimately affecting the 
brain and through it the reasoning powers. Not as bad 



230 FORTY YEARS ON 

as alcohol in its effects upon the morals, and not causing 
the crimes that the more stimulating poison does, but 
still with no beneficial effects and at enormous expense in 
the aggregate, producing only evil and perverting nature 
and good health, which ought to be sufficient when under- 
stood to exclude it entirely from every family and person, 
and thus aid the progress of the ' survival of the fittest,' 
for surely the purer and better the bodies of parents, the 
purer and better will be the offspring, and it is about time 
we looked into the question of propagation of the species 
of our own race, as we long have in the propagation of 
domestic animals, and as nature does in the undomesti- 
cated. 

" Excluding these two utterly useless and greatly injuri- 
ous and very expensive articles from our bill of fare and 
from our orders for supplies, we maj^ next look carefully 
into the nature and effects on the human body of the dif- 
ferent kinds of food, and exclude as far as possible those 
which bring disease into the body, and when we exclude 
alcohol and tobacco, we shall nearly all be able to select 
the most healthy food, even if it does cost more than that 
which is less in conformity with health and happiness. 
In time, through intellectual growth and the application of 
science and knowledge to physical life, we shall have the 
survival of the fittest and a better and healthier and more 
moral condition of mortal life. 

"This law and line of progress to a more rational, 
natural, consistent and intellectual condition of moral, 
social, and religious life is equally sure to prevail. Slowly 
but surely the effects of superstition, bigotry, and intol- 
erance are being understood, and they will be eradicated 
with their evil effects like those of alcohol and tobacco. 
Sectarian Christianity has been as destructive of life and 
happiness as alcohol, and though greatly modified since 
the days of the Inquisition, yet its bitter effects linger in 



THE SPIRITUAL ROSTRUM. 231 

the minds of those who, like old topers and chewers who 
have come down to beer and cider and cigarettes, still 
have the lingering effects of the poison in their organiza- 
tions. We have man}' Spiritualists who want to keep a 
little of the old superstition for a medicine, as the liquor- 
drinkers do a little of the firewater to taper off on, and 
they must have a little of the Christ or St. Paul spirit, 
mixed with the Spiritualism as a tonic — bitters ' for their 
stomach's sake.' Some want us to retain the morning 
mass or evening vespers, say our prayers, ask for bless- 
ings, or thank the Lord for every good thing we earn, or 
learn, and bless the church for favors received from other 
sources. They would have us look in the Scriptures, 
which have led everybody astray that has relied on them, 
for evidence of the truth of what we never learned from 
them and never could, but have learned from other 
sources and entirely without them. But this hold on the 
old fables and parables is steadily loosening and giving 
way to the law of the survival of the fittest in religion 
and morals as well as in physical life, and it gives us 
pleasure to see our race gradually coming out of the fogs 
of Christian superstition with a sure sign of leading all 
other nations out of their equally deep, but not greater 
darkness of religious ignorance. The grand work began 
with the telescope, which peered into the heavens and 
was soon followed by the microscope, the crucible, the 
retort, the scalpel, and the cabinet of fossils collected 
from the crust of the earth ; and as the telescope revealed 
the heavens to astronomers, so geology with its fossils 
revealed the past ages and changes of the earth's crust 
and the ; races that perished to pave the granite slab with 
a floor of lime.' These sciences turned the attention to 
the theological history of creation, and a c peep into Bacred 
traditions ' soon revealed its fabulous character and utter 
unreliability. Later came physiology, and later still 



232 FORTY YEARS OlST 

Spiritualism with its intercourse and correspondence with 
the denizens of the other life, which is to be the next 
revealment for us ; and then we turn to the churches to 
see what they teach about that life, and find them as 
much in error as is the Old Testament in its teachings 
about creation and the origin of man.' 

u ¥e find the pessimism of the New Testament which 
teaches us to ignore nature and disregard all social and 
domestic duties ; to hate our relatives and our own lives, 
and take no thought for the morrow what we shall eat, 
drink, or wear, and that it is not what we take into the 
mouth that defiles us ; and that it is entirely wrong for us 
to suppose tobacco and liquors and other filthy and poison- 
ous substances taken in the mouth defile us, and that we 
should take thought for the morrow and provide for, care 
for, and love our families and let our duties begin here, 
and that it is not the way to bring peace on earth for 
every man to have a sword even if he had to sell his coat 
to get one. From our friends on the other side we learn 
that ' he is not wrong whose life is in the right,' and that 
such a one has no need of Christ or Christianity any more 
than he has of Paganism or Mohammedanism, alcohol or 
tobacco, — that whatever perverts, distracts, and misleads 
the mind and intellect of man in this life, whether taken 
into the body or mind, draws him away from a true and 
natural growth and progress into harmony and health of 
body or mind. If the laws of nature — which are laws 
of God — are supreme, then ultimately they must triumph 
over all of these obstacles by the survival of the fittest, 
and when the physical evils are eradicated, the moral, 
social, and religious will soon follow, and in time not a 
vestige, except the fossils of our theology, will remain to 
obstruct the progress of the race, and then even our 
Christian Spiritualists will dispense with the little they 
keep as a medicine. " 



THE SPIRITUAL BOSTKUM. 233 

11 Which, shall Leaven the Whole Lump. 

c ' Many persons speak of Christianity as the leaven 
spoken of by Jesus, that the leaven is to leaven the whole 
human rac£. Even if that was so, no one can tell what 
true Christianity is that is to do this great work. Cathol- 
icism is undoubtedly the Christian Church, as it is the 
oldest, the richest, the largest, and the most popular, and 
even in our free country going up to the head, as shown 
by the unsurpassed splendor of the Catholic wedding of a 
congressman in Washington recently, and the great value 
of presents and distinguished guests, and a valuable and 
noted present to the bride, blessed by the Pope, which, it 
was thought, added greatiy to its value. President Cleve- 
land's wedding, which had no church back of it, bore no 
comparison to this one with the Pope and his emissaries 
to sustain it. This is the church, if any, that can leaven 
the whole lump of humanity, for it requires no conversion 
or change of heart, as most of its members are birthright 
members, being taken in soon after they are born by 
christening, and requiring no consent on their part, which 
the}' could not give if required, and then trained and 
educated just enough to hold them in its sacred precincts, 
which is very little education, and equally safe without 
any if duly christened. Not allowed to reason on relig- 
ious subjects, they are safe if they will not think on the 
subject, except to accept the words and authority of its 
priests. To this church, our own and all public schools 
are dangerous, because they l teach the young idea how 
to shoot,' like buds into blossom and to ripen intellectual 
fruit. The Catholic Church is the most complete system 
of mental slavery on the earth, equalling the tyranny of 
Russia, of whose people it is the sole religion, and in har- 
mony with its government, and all other tyrannies that 
will accept it. 



234 FORTY YEARS ON 

" Protestant sects in this country protest largely against 
this tyranny, and yet it holds its head as high as any of 
them, and pecuniarily gains on each one of them, as it 
is second in wealth in the United States, and fourth in 
numbers if we double in the factions in each of the Cal- 
vinists, Methodists, and Baptists, thereby putting them 
ahead in numbers, and yet it is evidently gaining on each 
of these. If we put the sects all together, and give the 
large majority to the Catholic which belongs to it in the 
world, there is yet not the remotest possibility of the 
whole lump of the race being Christianized, for after 
nearly two thousand years of propagandise it has evi- 
dently reached its culminating point, and passed, or is 
passing, its perihelion, from which it will pass away into 
oblivion, as older systems have. Its temples, however 
holy, are going to destruction in earthquakes and cyclones 
like other buildings not holy, and its societies quarrel and 
divide, and go to pieces ; and they furnish as many crim- 
inals in proportion to their numbers as those without its 
folds, and the people are fast learning that its prayers are 
useless to effect anything in any of the great causes of 
reform in which there is so much need. It only requires 
education through a reading of history, and the study of 
the sciences, to show that its pretences and claims are 
without foundation except in fables. 

" Every reader of the Offering interested in Christian- 
ity, temperance, and other reforms should preserve for 
reference the very valuable articles of Brother Mendenhall, 
as they contain statistics in figures and authority of the 
Bible that cost much research, and thej T show the drift of 
popular life in our country. He will pardon me for ex- 
tracting a few figures from his table taken from the census 
to show how fast Christianity in the aggregate of all sects 
is leavening the lump of humanity in our free country. 
His statistics on the temperance question show us the 



THE SPIRITUAL ROSTRUM. 235 

necessity of every person rising and taking an active part 
in the temperance cause to save our country from utter 
ruin, and they also show the utter failure of Christianity 
to save us. To show the leavening process I make the 
following extracts : From 1850 to 1860 the increase of 
churches was proportionately seven per cent less than the 
increase of population. From 1860 to 1870 the rate of 
increase in churches was five per cent less than the in- 
crease in population. From 1870 to 1880 the churches 
gained and were six per cent over that of population, 
largely a Catholic gain by immigration and increase in 
manufacturing cities. In thirty years population runs six 
per cent ahead of churches. Population in thirty years 
gains 140 per cent; churches, 131 per cent; grogshops 
gain 2122 per cent. In 1850 there was one church for 
every 551 persons, in 1880 one church for every 571 per- 
sons, and yet they are not half filled, and on an "average 
not one-fourth of the seats are occupied on the Sundays 
of the year, and not nearly all that attend are professing 
Christians or members of the church they attend. The 
Catholics are the most punctual, the most devout, and the 
best paying, as their priests have a way of extracting part 
of the wages obtained by a large part of the operatives in 
the shops and mills of our country, especially from the 
foreign-born laborers. 

u In England, France, and Germany the religious show- 
ing, from the best evidence I can get, is not better, if as 
good, as here. Protestantism, science, and last, but not 
least, Spiritualism, have taken the power of the Catholic 
Church, and there is no fear from any other sect, as they 
soon break apart, and a house divided against itself can- 
not stand now any more than it could in New Testament 
times. The salt has lost its savor, and the leaven its 
power to leaven the lump. Now let Spiritualism try its 
power as a saviour of life unto life and life into life." 



236 FORTY YEARS ON 

" Backing Out. 

" Some years ago, Elizabeth Stuart Phelps discovered 
that the gates of the spirit world were ajar, as many of us 
know who knew that by and through Modern Spiritualism 
they were being pushed and pulled open, and even at that 
time they were so far ajar that many of our friends were 
looking through and whispering to us and telling us of the 
beauties of their home on the other side of the death- 
gates. Our sister, seeing, or feeling, this fact, used her 
extraordinary talents to express her joy in putting out 
that valuable book, 4 The Gates Ajar,' which was eagerly 
sought for, earnestly read, and highly appreciated, espe- 
cially by Spiritualists, and it soon crept on to the tables 
of many families who attended churches and contributed 
to their support. As it was proving to be an introduc- 
tion to the spiritual facts and philosophy, the clergy were 
alarmed, and many of them condemned the book as lead- 
ing people to look at the opening through which the spirits 
could ' peep and mutter,' which was condemned in the 
Scripture. The author was severely censured, and the 
book likewise condemned by many zealous fanatics, but 
not till it had reached a large sale and circulation, which 
gave her a good reputation as an author, and registered 
her among the literati of our country. The outside pres- 
sure was now brought to bear on her to save her and her 
reputation from falling into the ranks of that unpopular 
class of writers and speakers known as Spiritualists, and 
she began to hesitate and back into the ranks of sceptics, 
till she might have found herself where Peter was in the 
story of Jesus and Peter, when Jesus told him, ' Get 
thee behind me, Satan ; ' but still she had not said or 
done enough in her later works to satisfy the sectarian 
bigots who held her reputation on their tongues and pens, 
until she came out through the leading secular and pan- 



THE SPIRITUAL ROSTRUM. 237 

dering prejudiced press and ridiculed the subject of spirit 
intercourse ; like Peter of old, who, when the pressure 
was brought to bear on him, denied, and even cursed and 
swore to prove he did not belong to the unpopular class* 
of cranks of which Jesus was the leader. It is an inter- 
esting story ; true or false, it applies well to Sister Phelps, 
and the sequel may turn out as well, or she may be like 
that other character in the story, whose repentance led to 
a widely different result. 

"It is interesting to see how sensitive some persons 
are to the pressure of orthodox influence when it touches 
their reputation. They seem to think that reputation 
makes character, and to save the latter they must secure 
the former, and go with the current of floodwood, or be 
beached on the dry sands of unpopularity. If this life 
were all there is for us, their policy might be worth con- 
sidering ; but it is so short and unsatisfactory that it is 
not worth while to sacrifice truth, or knowledge, or con- 
science to gain the good will of the multitude, and espe- 
cially that of the bigoted and superstitious leaders whose 
life and luxury depend on keeping the masses ignorant 
enough to gain their support from them. I am sorry for 
Sister Phelps ; but of course she will not care for my sor- 
row, as she has now the sympathy and support of the 
orthodox clergy, and they can give her a reputation. " 

" Centerstance, Circumstance, and Substance. 

" Centers tance is the inner, or radiating centre ; the 
germ of all organic life and crystallized forms. Circum- 
stance is the outer belt to the centre ; the moving and cir- 
culating particles or forces gathering around the centre or 
centres in organic or crystallized forms. Substance is the 
under or inferior condition, as the prefix sub denotes, and 
applies to the lowest condition or inferior part of the uni- 



238 FORTY YEARS 01* 

verse % or, as some would term it, the base, as the crystal- 
lized rock is to our earth with its soil and water and living 
forms above it. Our philosophy in its history corresponds 
to our earth and its strata, with its rock base and spirit 
realm at the top. For more than a thousand years after 
our Christian time-table began its dates with its Divine 
revelations, this earth was supposed to be the centre of 
the universe and the sun, moon, and stars, made by the 
God who made it, and all for his glory, especially to min- 
ister to the earth. This was hardly up in correspondence 
to the silurian era, with its flora and fauna ; and if the 
Christian Church could have prevented progress and men- 
tal evolution, this would still be the true and God-revealed 
theory of the creation ; but the world moves and drags 
Christianity after it in progressive thought and discov- 
eries, but not by God-revealed revelations. 

u From this fabulous centerstance of the universe Coper- 
nicus, Galileo, and the burned Bruno and Kepler, pushed 
the centerstance out to the sun in spite of the Church and 
its fagots that burned Bruno. Later, philosophers with 
the improved telescopes pushed the centre out to Alcyone, 
and now they are speculating on a still farther away cen- 
tre of which, or where, no one knows, but only guesses 
there is one. Now let us turn to religion and theology, 
and see the correspondence. First, the stone and wooden 
gods as the religious centres ; next, the horrible beasts and 
monstrosities ; next, the sun, moon, and stars ; next, the 
multitude of personal gods of which we have three in 
our mental image, and to which we are now building tem- 
ples as the ancients did to their gods, with equal zeal and 
devotion. We are on the eve of another move forward, 
which is, as it ever has been, resisted by the idol-wor- 
shippers and gold-beaters as of old, who cry ' Great is 
the goddess Diana of the Ephesians,' of which we have 
Talmage, Moody, Joe Cook, Sam Jones, Sam Small, and 



THE SPIRITUAL ROSTRUM. 239 

a score more of the money-seeking and money-making 
servants of him who required his followers to sell all they 
had and give to the poor, and even to sell their coats and 
buy swords, — which our anti-war Christians say meant 
swords of truth to fight error with. This latest move, 
which many preachers have reached, is dispensing with all 
personal gods as centres or centerstances, and supplant- 
ing them with an Omniscient, Omnipresent, and Omnip- 
otent Soul of the boundless universe which cannot be per- 
sonal, or local, or partial to this or smy world, or to us, 
or any grade of being in existence. As this is as far as 
nry mind can reach for a centerstance of organic life, I 
cannot even conjecture what next, if there is to be a next, 
and I anchor here and call this ' soul of things ' God, 
with the elements as circumstances, and substance as a 
base of forms in the lowest stratum of what we call mat- 
ter, or material life. We have in our reach, first, mineral 
with forms, vegetable with life, animal with sensation, 
human with religious aspiration, and spiritual as an out- 
growth or another step in the infinite rounds of circles 
and cycles of being. 

" Our theological 'gold-beaters' will keep us and the 
race back as long as they can, as their trade pays well, 
and ' the fools are not all dead yet,' and Spiritualism, al- 
though a giant, is yet young, and yet bracing up to these 
Sullivan sluggers in the pulpits with the man-made divine 
revelations for gloves. The gods which were once in the 
rock images are now in imaginary heavens located in the 
minds of the preachers, and with some progressive minds 
they are centred in one great Oversoul, binding all in 
with a circumference to each and all, — if there is an all ; 
but to me God is the inner soul of all existence, the cen- 
terstance of all forms in worlds or atoms, the force and mo- 
tive power in all motion, life, sensation, and intelligence." 



240 FORTY YEARS ON 

" New Methods op Salvation. 

" To increase the power of the several churches to save 
souls in our day, many novel measures are resorted to, 
such as would have been condemned in the old Puritan 
days by all Christians, as, for instance, the more liberal 
policy of Christ, claimed by some of the Andover pro- 
fessors, is by the old fogies of the present Orthodox 
church. Myself and wife attended an Episcopal festival 
last evening in the largest hall in the State, which is in 
Worcester, Mass., and where we crowded round in a jam 
of over three thousand persons admitted at twenty-five 
cents each, with extras inside at exorbitant prices, and in 
great variety, from which enormous sums were raised, 
mostly for little or no consideration, and largely by ob- 
taining money under false pretences, one of which was 
a fortune-teller (handsome woman) telling the fortunes 
by looking in the hands, and squeezing those of the gen- 
tlemen, and smiling in their faces to keep them good- 
natured while she spun out some silly yarn to get money 
for the church to save souls with. Another part was 
Punch and Judy as a side-show, with extra admission, 
which, silliest of all silly performances, brought some- 
thing like $200 in the two days and evenings, illustrating 
the old saying, ' the fool and his money are soon parted/ 
— but, in this case, for Christ's sake, which made it all 
right. The elegant music was timely and good, and the 
dancing, especially the Highland Fling. The ballet and 
surf dance would have done credit to a theatre, — which 
the performance must have resembled, — had there been 
seats and order, and the goods for sale at exorbitant 
prices left out. In one corner was a windmill, which re- 
minded me of the church and its preachers, and it ground 
out grists for each customer for ten cents. There were 
no liquors sold, but other drinks and food of most kinds 



THE SPLKITUAL EOSTRUM. 241 

and ways of feeding, including fresh milk, and, by the 
milkstand, a cow calling for her calf; she had been got 
up the two flights of stairs, and gave her milk for the 
church as we did our money, — all to save souls by a church 
that has never been able to prove that man or woman 
has a soul, and ignores the only evidence to be had, which 
Spiritualism furnishes. Fancy and funny costumes were 
among the attractions, and handsome stage girls selected, 
as the theatres do, and which churches are imitating, 
because that is a way to get money, if not religion. 

" This is only one of the lines of progress in Christian- 
ity, or churchianity, in old Puritan New England. In 
Boston they have had the two Sams, — Sam Jones and 
Sam Small, — getting up a Methodist steam by blowing 
off the most ridiculous strings of nonsense ever let off in 
old Hub of the Universe, and they did it to the tune of 
over $3000, besides private presents, and of course saved 
a large number of souls to the churches that paid it, and 
the leading papers published the ridiculous sermons of 
these great revivalists as the}' would reports of theatrical 
performances for the information of the public ; their whole 
parade being much like that of the Salvation Army, which 
I call the tail of the Christian kite, which is now so long it 
drags in the mud. 

"The old Catholic Church, too, has gone into the show 
business and selling fancy things to raise money, as sell- 
ing indulgences to sin does not bring in enough in these 
extravagant times. It is wonderful to see how popular 
this church has grown in New England within the last 
century, it having, in several of our manufacturing cities, 
got control of the municipal governments and taken the 
Catholic children out of the public schools, and put Cath- 
olic teachers over most of the public schools also. All 
is for Christ's sake." 



242 FORTY YEARS ON 



"Try the Spirits. 

" If this sentence has any meaning, it seems to me to 
apply to the intercourse of spirits with mortals, and in our 
time, when the intercourse is extensive and daily increas- 
ing, it is worth looking into. 

"The subject is brought to my mind by the excellent 
article in the Offering of Feb. 5 by H. K. The thought 
at once occurred to me that a standard was necessary by 
which we could try them, and my mind at once started in 
search of one. It strikes me, as it is an established fact that 
death serves only to change the spheres of life very nearly 
as they are changed here by removing from New York to 
Paris, and does no more change the mind, the opinions or 
beliefs in the one case than in the other, either in religion, 
politics, or moral and social affairs, that a standard would 
be very difficult to obtain by which the fallibility or infal- 
libility of an opinion obtained from a spirit could be 
tested. It is a well-established fact that Mohammedans are 
Mohammedans, and not Christians, after they pass to the 
other life, and the Chinese and Indians are the same 
there as here, as is daily proved of the latter who once 
inhabited this section of the earth and come daily to our 
mediums, and are no more Christians now than when here. 
It is also proved by the fact that Thomas Paine, Benjamin 
Franklin, Professor Hare, and others are no more Chris- 
tians now than when they lived here. We also know 
that Roman Catholics who die full in the faith and belief 
of that church remain in both long after death, and often 
communicate to Catholics and urge them to stick to the 
church, while they, on being questioned, confess that they 
have not seen Jesus or the Virgin Mary, but expect to at 
some future time. Calvinists who are firm in the faith, 
passing on, carry it with them, and there as here it has to 
be outgrown by progress in thought, as in all doctrines 



THE SPIRITUAL ROSTRUM. 243 

and dogmas is true of finite minds, and that growth is 
slow there as here, but perhaps not as slow — we must 
take each one's opinions of what they do not know, as we 
do the opinions of our fellow-mortals on such subjects. 
So far as I can learn from spirits they actually know as 
little about the infinite intelligence and wisdom that gov- 
ern the universe, or about the extent of the universe as 
we do on earth. Many persons live here nearly a century 
and know no more about these things than at twenty or 
even ten years of age, so far as actual knowledge is con- 
cerned. The Calvinist or Methodist would set up his 
standard as the test of value or correctness of the opinion 
or message from a spirit, and thus each would try the 
spirits by his own standard. It is probable that those of 
us who are not Christians or Mohammedans, would have a 
standard that would not accept the opinions of either of 
these sects of worshippers. In our estimates of the value 
of opinions here we should probably think those of Her- 
bert Spencer superior to those of Spurgeon, and those 
of Ingersoll superior to those of Taltnage, and those of 
Beecher superior to the rantings of Sam Jones and Sam 
Small, who are just now converting the rabble in Boston 
about as the Salvation Army is all over the country. 

u By these rules I do not see that we can fix up any 
one standard by which we can any more, or any better, 
try the spirits in their messages than we can the different 
creeds of the Christian churches. I try the latter and 
reject them all, and yet find some kernels of wheat in 
nearly every one of the piles of sectarian chaff. I have 
heard as orthodox prayers from spirits as from any on 
this side of death, and seen messages as ridiculous as Sam 
Jones' sermons, and I have no more respect for them and 
no more confidence in them than if uttered by Sam Jones 
or a member of the Salvation Army. I have also had 
and read many of the most beautiful and to me rational, 



244 FORTY YEARS ON 

natural and truthful messages, that equal the sermons of 
Theodore Parker, or the letters of John Stuart Mill or 
Herbert Spencer. How can I try the spirits except by 
my own standard and the condition of my mind? If the 
Catholics are right, I am wrong. If the Calvinists are 
right, I am wrong. If the Methodists are right, I am 
wrong ; and if I am right, they are all wrong. If I am 
wrong, I cannot see it now, and spirits have not yet given 
me any evidence that I am wrong. When I find I am 
wrong on any line of progress, I shall abandon it and take 
what seems right to me. As I have never been a Chris- 
tian either by birth, baptism, or education, and was never 
taught the catechism, I have never accepted the dogma- 
tism of any church, but have been an outsider, seeking 
and collecting what I could, and I readily caught the facts 
of spirit intercourse and by it gained the knowledge of a 
life succeeding this, into which all go from this and, so far 
as I can learn, unchanged in mental capacity and opinions 
by the change we call death. Hence I take the opinions 
from these as I do those here, and try them by the best 
standard I can find." 

"Peace on Earth and Good-will among Men. 

" We are so often and so repeatedly told by Christians 
that the mission of Jesus to this earth as a God was to 
bring peace on earth and good- will among men, that it is 
well to look up the record and follow the trail of Chris- 
tianity which claims to be carrying out and fulfilling his 
mission. It is now nearly nineteen hundred years since 
this Jesus, who is said to have been a God with omnipo- 
tent power to do what he pleased, came on earth to bring 
peace and good-will, and to-day while I am writing, our - 
Congress, and other Christian nations with Christian gov- 
ernments (which ours is not, although we have chaplains 



THE SPIEITUAL ROSTRUM. 245 

in both branches of Congress and most of the State legis- 
latures, and thousands of costly churches and seventy- 
six thousand Christian preachers), are discussing great 
questions of armies and navies and the most destructive 
instruments for destroying one another, and all preparing 
for war. This has been the history of all Christian na- 
tions and Christian governments since the Christian Church 
was organized and united with the governments under 
Constantine, and the more powerful the church and the 
government with which it has been united, the more cruel 
and the more warlike and despotic its history. Russia is to- 
day the most devout Christian nation on earth, and has the 
worst and most cruel government, and Spain the next in 
both respects ; ours, with a liberal Christianity and largely 
infidel, is, as our congressmen declare, in the most peaceful 
condition, and it has the least Christianity of any, and 
yet under the sanctions of our chaplains and churches our 
politicians are urging preparations for war, and many are 
trying to get us into a war with Canada, and consequently 
with England, over a kettle offish upset on a Nova Scotia 
coast, which to the whole nation and people is of less impor- 
tance than the overflowing of" the Mississippi River each year. 
" It has ever been the policy of the Christian nations to 
take up the slightest occasions for war when they felt 
that they had power to check the growth or crush out 
a weaker nation, as Russia did Poland, and Spain the 
South American and Mexican nations, and as we have the 
Indians. But wars have not been the only way our Chris- 
tians have interfered with this pretended mission of Jesus 
to bring peace on earth and good-will among men. Per- 
secutions and the most cruel executions for no crime but 
the honest expression of an unbelief, when belief was in- 
voluntary, have marked its entire history from Constan- 
tine to the present time, only ameliorated and modified 
as the churches have lost power to execute it by the 



246 FORTY YEAES ON 

growth and strength of unbelief and infidelity ; but the 
spirit and disposition is the same, as is evinced every day 
in cases of church quarrels like that of Dr. McGlynn of 
New York, and one we are having to-day in Worcester in 
a Baptist church, which is divided against itself and can- 
not stand, if the Scripture is true. 

" Divisions, discords, wranglings, anger, and disputation 
are the prevailing conditions of our churches in place of 
good- will, and are a modified form of the hatred that pre- 
vailed for more than a thousand years, in which millions 
lost their lives, even reaching down to this country and 
tapering out in the hanging of six Quakers in Massachu- 
setts, and the execution of nineteen mediums in Salem, 
accused of making league with the devil and being witches 
and warlocks, because phenomena occurred around them 
such as do now around our mediums, and over which they 
had no control, and the sources of which were unknown to 
them. It has been growth and strength of infidelity that 
stopped these cruelties tapering out in Massachusetts from 
executions through the imprisonment of Abner Kneeland 
for blasphemy in saying ' the Universalists believe in a God 
which I do not,' which only showed that he was honest 
enough to express his unbelief over which he had no con- 
trol, but for which, our Christians tell us, God will tor- 
ment us forever. Such kind of good-will as God is said 
to have is such as orthodox Christians have manifested 
in the past, and Catholics still maintain in countries where 
they control the governments. Preach peace and prac- 
tise war is Christian nations' history ; preach good-will, 
and practise enmity is church history. Get the heart 
changed and be no better is individual history." 

" Christian Science. 
" A Christain scientist is a misnomer. I never knew 
and never read of a genuine and thorough scientist that 



THE SPIRITUAL ROSTRUM. 247 

was a Christian, and it has rarely been the case that a 
scientist has accepted Christianity, even for friends or 
popularity ; and when one has, it has been like one I 
once heard say when lecturing on authority, and remark- 
ing that he did not accept it except in religion ; and on 
that, he said, ; I shut ray eyes and go it blind.' Faithist 
is a proper name for a Christian, as faith is proper evi- 
dence in Christianity, but not in science or courts of law, 
where we have to prove a fact by evidence. Faith being 
1 the evidence of things not seen, and the substance of 
things hoped for,' is good enough for a Christian, but is 
neither evidence nor substance in science or law. "What 
faith can do that science cannot, is evidenced in the many 
(over 300) creeds which it proves true by the Bible, no 
two of them being alike, and many directly contradictory. 
Neither science nor law could do this, nor prove by its 
rules of evidence even one of them true. The rules of 
evidence in science and law are similar, and entirely dis- 
tinct from those of Christianity, hence the misnomer. 
No" amount of metaphysical nonsense can ever unite 
science and Christianity, or prove anything by faith ex- 
cept its own existence and absurd claims as fictions. TT. 
F. Evans, in his work on. ' Esoteric Christianity and 
Mental Therapeutics, ' has dabbled in more of this meta- 
physical nonsense than I have seen in so short a space 
for a long time ; beginning with an absurdity, he runs 
the gauntlet of nonsense successfully for those who can- 
not reason. He says : ' The human mind is dual. There 
is an active intellectual department of our being, and a 
passive and receptive nature, and the union of the two 
constitute the mind. The one is masculine, the other 
feminine. ' 

li If more nonsense can be combined in as few words, 
1 have never seen it. Read on : ' This bipartite division 
extends down through the three discrete degrees of the 



248 FOKTY YEARS ON 

mind, and even into the body. The function of the one is 
to act, of the other is to receive and to react. When we 
turn the receptive and passive intellect toward the realm 
of light, the " intelligible world," the light of truth will 
flow in according to our degree of receptivity.' He 
ought to send this profound philosophy and grand dis- 
covery to Herbert Spencer, and to De Witt Talmage ; the 
latter could weave it in with the old Bible stories in his 
inimitable sermons, where it would fit nicely. But a child 
might ask some questions that would spoil it, as a ques- 
tion did the darky's sermon on Adam and Eve and the 
garden fence. What and who is the 'We,' or ego, that 
turns the two facts, male and female, of the mind, toward 
the realms of light, the ' intelligible world ' ? and what is 
the realm of light, and what the intelligible world ? Science 
defines, and is made up of facts, not fiction or assertion. 

" Let us know what we are that turn the crank, and 
face the mind about and catch the light of truth which, 
we are to suppose, shines like an electric light or a 
distant star. How much of this dual mind does the 
child have when it is born? Is it masculine and fem- 
inine then? How much mind would we have if we had 
no senses? So far as I can discover, and so far as 
science has gone with its evidences, we are born without 
any mind, but with a small repositor}* for it to be stored 
in, as it is collected from the elemental universe through 
the senses, and collected particle by particle, and some 
retained and some passed off as are the grains of coarser 
matter that compose the body at different stages of life. 
The body may determine sexuality at birth, but in the 
mind it is developed in some years of growth, and in 
most cases settles in one or the other sex, but not always 
in either, and but rarely in both. The mind is no more 
a unit than the body, and no more a quality, but like it, is 
a combination of particles collected through the senses, 



THE SPIRITUAL EOSTRUM. 249 

and stored in the varied and various repositories of the 
brain. Large religious organs are filled with what we 
were stamped with along the path of life by seeing and 
hearing and reading, and this makes faith, sometimes 
equal to a grain of mustard seed, but not quite enough 
to remove a mountain into the sea, or to cure a cancer 
or typhoid fever or the cholera. Even those who rely on 
the faith cure often get baffled, as Jesus did with the fig- 
tree and the faithless people. Science never depends on 
faith or belief, but on the immortal laws of nature, and its 
facts are demonstrated the same to sceptics as to be- 
lievers. It is religion that relies on faith to set it out for 
acceptance. 

" Spirit intercourse is a demonstrated scientific fact. 
No creed in Christianity is, and faith is an ignis-fatuus, 
that too often leads into swamps of superstition and 
absurdities of doctrine. The human body has been an- 
alyzed and dissected, but the mind so far in experiments 
eludes our grasp for experiments, as we have no crucibles 
or retorts that will hold it, and the vague theories and 
speculations about it, and about what it can do and can- 
not do, are without scientific evidence. Its existence in 
different quantities and varied effects and expressions in 
individuals, is what we know of it, and we may say of it 
what the ancients said of nature's laws, 4 causa latet res 
est 7iotissima. 9 If each mind is male and female, we are 
more than double in marriage, as there are two males 
and two females in each conjugal pair, and there would 
hardly seem to be any necessity for marriage even to per- 
petuate the race, as we should be like some plants, espe- 
cially our maize. 

"What are we to understand by the 'intelligible world,' 
toward which the mind is to be turned by something that 
can turn it, and may turn it out in the cold if it can turn 
it at all? I can recognize an intelligent system of laws 



250 FORTY YEARS ON 

by which all existence, so far as I know of it, is gov- 
erned, and I do not see any exception in rnind so far as 
I can trace its effects, as I cannot deal with it as I can 
with minerals, or even as I can with the gases, and have 
read of no scientist that can, but have seen plenty of 
ridiculous theories about it, and its origin and destiny, its 
power and effects; but science ignores thern all, as they 
are not based on facts. I make up my mind ; but what 
am I, the ego, that owns and controls the mind and makes 
it up ? My answer is in m} T last published book, ' Es- 
sence and Substance.' " 

"Post-mortem Life. 

" There is a vast amount of speculation about that life, 
and many even deny its existence. There are over three 
hundred and fifty creeds and theories about it, all based 
on divine revelation, or what is claimed to be such, and 
no two alike, and yet all supposed to be based on the 
infallible words of God, who is supposed to live there 
and know all about it. The conflicts of these theories 
are such as to lead any careful writer to reject them all 
* as coming from any God who knows what that life is, and 
was honest in the report of it. There is not one particle 
of reliable evidence that any word about it has come 
from any God of knowledge and wisdom and honesty, 
and hence the conflicting creeds of mere speculators on 
what they call divine revelation. That persons who 
wore enjoying that post-mortem existence have through 
all historic time been dabbling in and often directing the 
affairs of this life, while giving very little information 
about their own, seems to me a plain fact, and that these 
messages should often be called the word of the Lord as 
it came to prophets and seers, who were no doubt what 
we now call mediums, is also plain to me, judging from 



THE SPIRITUAL EOSTRUM. 251 

the records. These messages from Jews in the post- 
mortem life to those in the ante-mortem life were re- 
ceived by the priests as authentic, and were generally 
accepted and too often followed out in the cruel and 
barbarous practices of that people. Those of the Greeks 
were better because the Greeks were a more enlightened 
people, and the Greeks in both worlds were more ad- 
vanced in literature, science, and poetry ; but Greeks and 
Jews and Persians each peopled a section of the spirit 
world near to and closely allied to their native homes on 
earth. 

"To me it seems strange that no more was given 
relating to the life and world in which they found them- 
selves living after death, as that is the first thing we 
write about now when we discover a new section of this 
world and land on it ; but this neglect is still more mar- 
vellous if it came from gods who knew all about that 
world, and this also. To me it seems plain that we have 
learned nothing about that life that was reliable until 
what is now called Modern Spiritualism opened an ex- 
tended and widely varied intercourse between the two 
states of existence. As yet there are many and varied 
reports about its locality and its scenery, showing the 
great variety of conditions in which its denizens live, and 
we also find the same varied and widely different opinions 
and theories on subjects of which they know no more 
than we do, such as the origin of our world, of life, of 
man, etc. It is plain that they have no more access to 
God and the source of knowledge of these things than 
we have, and hence the theories there as here. Like 
writers and speakers here, they like to have their theories 
and opinions accepted, and hence often assume names 
that we venerate and accept as authority. In earlier 
times it was the word of God, or the Lord ; and now it 
is Jesus, or the saints, or some distinguished philosopher, 



252 FORTY YEARS ON 

statesman, or poet ; and with such sanction of a sacred 
name many vague and ridiculous theories of our future 
and of the post-mortem life are palmed off on the people, 
some of them as ridiculous as the Christian creeds. In 
time we shall sift this subject and rationalize the whole 
matter, as we are doing with this life and its duties and 
results. When I was young, it was taught from the pul- 
pits and in the catechism that the chief end of man was 
to glorify God and praise him forever; and yet we were 
told that a great majority would go into eternal misery 
and be made to praise him there. I remember well when 
it was said we must be willing to be damned before we 
could be saved, and I could see no chance for me in 
that course. To me some of the theories of that life, 
and the beliefs entertained there of God, are as ridicu- 
lous as those taught here by the churches ; and when they 
conflict with nature, with reason, with justice, I am no 
more ready to receive them. When a spirit talks of things 
as ridiculous as those John said he saw when looking 
into heaven from the Isle of Patmos, I put that spirit 
down as a crank ; and when one writes out a new Bible 
history of creation, etc., as in c Oahspe,' I put him in the 
catalogue of those who wrote the Old Testament and 
other fables like the Samson, Noah, and Jonah stories, 
and by such I learn nothing of that life, except that it is 
a continuance of this with the cranks, and Christians, and 
Faithists, and believers there as here." 

' ' Christmas Day — What is it ? 

" That it is a holiday, and especially the children's 
day, we all know, and are all glad their clear little hearts 
can be made glad and merry at least one day in the, 
to them, long year ; and I have tried to do my part 
in such work, although in my childhood there was no 



THE SPIRITUAL EOSTRUM. 253 

Christmas, especially for me, in that old Puritan sec- 
tion of New Hampshire where the new revelation of 
Spiritualism had not appeared in public. None of the 
merry-made children and few of the merry-makers ever 
inquire after the origin of the fabled Santa Claus, or the 
reason why this clay is selected from the 365 of the year 
for his visits. That it was a day of rejoicing and a holi- 
day of the sun -worshippers many centuries before the 
origin of Christianity, is a historical fact ; and likewise 
that it had its origin in the fact that on the twenty-fifth 
day of December the sun-god started back north on his 
journey to resurrect the dead vegetation that had died of 
cold from his journey south when his slanting rays could 
not sustain them. During these short days the evil god, 
Ahrimen, had the partial control, and, bent on death, he 
stopped the production of food, as it was the sun-god that 
gave the daily bread. 

" This old record and practice could not have given it 
the name of Christmas, as that comes only from Christianity 
with as much of a fabled origin as its distinguished visitor, 
Santa Claus, has, neither having any fact for a basis as the 
sun- worshippers had. The unquestioned Roman Catholic 
statement that it was the birthday of Christ is wholly fabu- 
lous, and unsupported by a single historic fact or item of 
reliable history, even if there is any of his birth at any 
time, which is now closely questioned, and by many, with 
good reasons, doubted. The mule shed and manger story, 
where the sheds were only ledges of rocks which consti- 
tuted the wilderness of that bleak and barren country, and 
the mangers only hollows in the rocks where the jacks and 
mules were fed, and the fabled birth of a God in such a 
place at that time of year, is a little too steep for rational 
minds in this enlightened age. It only adds another link 
to the fabled story of the priests turning the Holy Virgin 
out of the temple, because she was miraculously with child 



254 FOBTZ YEAKS ON 

by their God or his Holy Ghost, which, of course, would 
and should have secured her the best of care in the temple. 

"Up to the year three hundred and fifty of our era, no 
day had been agreed upon as the birthday of Jesus, who 
had then become the Christ and a God in the Trinity of 
the old Mother Church. Many dates had been suggested 
up to that time ; some in May, some in April, some in 
November, and various other dates, but no one authenti- 
cally agreed upon. Somewhere about 352 or 353 the 
Church writers discovered that God made the world and 
sun, moon, and stars, and the garden, and man in the 
spring, as that was the time the grasses began to grow in 
the northern hemisphere, and they knew nothing of a 
southern hemisphere then ; as the day and night were 
divided equally in the evening and morning, it was fixed 
at the spring equinox ; and as that was the time of God's 
first work on earth, making it out of nothing, with the sun, 
moon, and stars to light it, for it was as fiat as a pancake 
then, with a bottomless pit under it, and the home of the 
gods on the next flat above, and above the blue waters of 
the sky as well as above the sun, moon, and stars, and the 
gods then went up and down from the mountains and broke 
up the plan and effort to build a tower with steps up to it 
as related in the Holy Bible. Taking this as a basis, the 
holy Fathers, full of the Holy Ghost, and with great wisdom 
and foresight, saw that this must be the time of year that 
God made his last visit to this flat of the universe, and 
that that must be the time of the visit to the holy temple 
and the wonderful event that led to the redemption of man 
from original sin, at least to all that were reached by the 
atonement and blood of Christ through his church on earth 
and no others, as they were and still are hopelessly lost, 
and I find myself among them and prefer to stay there. 

" Now we have the key to Christmas and the reason of 
its date in the deep winter by counting the time of gesta- 



THE SPIRITUAL ROSTRUM. 255 

tion from the vernal equinox, and most fortunately, and 
no doubt accidentally, it fell on the very day that had been 
so long and so generally used as a holiday and day of 
rejoicing, as the sun-god's start back to save the frozen 
world, and hence it was at once and almost universally 
accepted, and the old church made glad that it had so 
miraculously discovered the very day on which Christ was 
born, and we sacredly keep it yet, and will keep it with 
old Santa Claus." 

"Danger Signals. 
"The constantly increasing and renewed attacks on 
our best public mediums of the most attractive and 
convincing class — the materializing — is a subject for 
every true Spiritualist to interest himself and herself 
in. A bigoted public prejudice built up and sustained 
by the churches, and a subsidized press ever seeking 
sensation articles to feed this prejudice, are at the bot- 
tom. A clergy and its revival preachers all the time 
obtaining money under the false pretence of saving souls, 
stands ready to use the law to persecute some poor, honest, 
hard-working medium who is not obtaining money under 
false pretences, but is trying and often succeeding in con- 
vincing sceptics that death does not separate those who 
love each other, nor put the person passing through it out 
of existence or to ' sleep in Jesus,' but leaves the person 
mentally in a condition to study nature's law, and when 
these laws allow it, to make themselves known. This fact, 
so fatal to the many theories of our churches about the 
destiny of the souls they claim to have saved, or failed to 
save, is what arouses their bitterest prejudices, and they 
at once join with the writers for the papers that only seek 
sensational items to feed the prejudice and sell their issues. 
These papers which so eagerly catch up any pretended 
expose, and often get them up and employ reckless and 



256 FORTY YEARS ON 

rascally persons to go prepared for their work, carrying 
with them the very articles they scatter in the dark and 
pretend to find, and taking with them the persons they 
pretend to grab as accomplices, get well paid by the extra 
sale of the papers containing the lengthy and well written 
stories of the exposure, but which, when it is shown that 
the fraud was all in, and by the exposers, they will never 
explain, as that would not aid the sale of the paper nor 
satisfy the popular prejudice. There is a day of reckon- 
ing and retribution for this rascality, and we can afford to 
wait ; but it is well to have up the danger signals for the 
mediums, as this kind of treatment and abuse of many of 
our best and most sensitive mediums has driven them out 
of the useful field of labor, and often out of the body 
through the gate of death to a better world where pulpit 
and press can persecute no more." 

u Ancient and Modern Christianity. 

"To a seeker after religious truth a history of Chris- 
tianity is highly essential, and entirely unsatisfactory as a 
foundation for a philosophical religious belief. There is 
but one thing original in its history as a belief, and that 
fabulous and absurdly false, and that is a bodily resurrec- 
tion as the basis of a future or renewal of life after 
death. All of its moral precepts are taught and em- 
braced in more ancient religious teachings. The Egyp- 
tians, Hindoos, Chinese, Persians, and Jews had them, 
and they have nowhere any evidence of a divine origin. 
The} 7 are natural and instinctive in mankind. All intelli- 
gent people with no religious creed, or even belief in anj r 
God, know as well as Christians do that it is wrong to 
murder, rob, steal, lie, or covet a neighbor's property, 
as do the most devout Christians, and if they obey the 
dictates of their own consciences, live as righteously and 



THE SPIRITUAL ROSTRUM. 257 

wisely, or even more so, than do those who do it through 
fear of a God who commands it and whose punishment 
they fear. It is questionable whether there is merit in a 
good act or life, performed or lived through fear of pun- 
ishment. The Mohammedan moral code is nearly the 
same as the Christian, and may have been largely bor- 
rowed from it, as the Christian was from the Jewish and 
Persian, and these from Egyptian and Hindoo, or Grecian 
and Roman in later models. It does not require a God 
to tell us it is wrong to kill or steal, nor does it even re- 
quire a spirit from the other life to teach these truths that 
are instinctively implanted in our nature, and they are no 
more sacred because found in ancient scripts than they 
are when found in savage language or in the illiterate, 
or vulgar rabble and profane dialect of the prize-fighter. 

' 4 Separating our morals from religion , to which they do 
not belong, we can look up the history of Christianity as 
we do any other religion, but not with the same reliable 
certainty that we can Mohammedanism, which is five or 
six centuries younger and more accurately traced to its 
mediumistic founder, and the phenomena and messages 
that came through him from the spirit world. Those 
which came through Jesus, if they ever actually occurred 
in any manner, are more remote, more uncertain, and 
much more unreliable as facts, and often so extravagantly 
exaggerated in the records as to create discredit of their 
having occurred at all. That those of Mohammed are also 
exaggerated is unquestionably true, as all ancient me- 
diumship is in the narrative except perhaps that of Soc- 
rates. It requires a strong taint of fanaticism to believe 
that a God or the ' very God ' of all creation and exist- 
ence lived on earth thirty years among boys and men as 
one of them, working with them at mechanical work, and 
only in two or three instances after his childhood gave 
any signs of the infinite power he possessed, but lived 



258 FORTY YEARS ON 

and labored in the most obscure part of the world, and 
yet came to enlighten and save the whole race, or to offer 
them salvation from endless misery to which they had 
been by himself sentenced, and to which all must go 
without this pardon from their own acceptance of him as 
a sacrifice of himself to himself, as he and his Father 
are said to be one. The 'mysteries of Godliness' — 
whatever they are — are said to be wonderful and, so such 
as these certainly are, and beyond my comprehension or 
acceptance, whatever the consequences may be to me. . 

" So far as I have been able to trace the history of 
religions, they all seem to have started, even down to 
many of our modern sects, in spiritual phenomena and 
messages, running backward from Mormonism and Mil- 
lerism, Dniversalism, Methodism, Shakerism, Quakerism, 
Protestantism, Catholicism, to Primitive Christianity, which 
is as distinct from all of these forces as Shakerism is from 
orthodoxy. To me there is no doubt of spirit manifesta- 
tions and messages among the early Christians, the Jews, 
the Persians, the Hindoos, the Chinese, and the Egyptians, 
and that the priests of all ages have deceived the people 
with these as coming from their gods and being providen- 
tial and of divine origin and supernatural, while the}' ever 
showed their finite and fallible origin as do those of our time. 

" During the first two hundred years of the Christian 
era, mediumship, phenomena, and messages were quite 
common, and worldliness, pride, ambition, tyranny, and 
persecution were almost, if not entirely, unknown among 
the followers and teachers of the Jesus doctrine. They 
were mostly itinerant mendicants, poor and despised 
by the rich aristocrats with other religions and gods. 
Even the Jews despised them and utterly ignored their 
pretensions and stories of Jesus and his miraculous origin, 
which none but Jews and Jewish priests could know of, 
if it occurred as related in the second century by the 



THE SPIRITUAL ROSTRUM. 259 

writers of Matthew's or Luke's Gospels. That these prim- 
itive teachers of a new religion lived pure lives generally, 
and made great sacrifices of comfort for a cause in which 
they were conscientiously honest, there is no doubt ; and 
although disputes arose among them in matters about 
Jesus, it was not until the third centuiw that they became 
generally corrupt and tyrannical. When Constantine, 
that most cruel, wicked, and corrupt of all Roman rulers, 
exceeding even Nero," got control of the Roman power 
and took Christianity for an ally and wedded it to the 
Roman government, it at once became even more corrupt, 
more tyrannical, more wicked, and more cruel and relent- 
less than an}' Pagan system of religion then in existence. 
It caused, created, and sustained the darkness and crimes 
of what is known as the dark ages, which spread over 
Europe, but not over Mohammedan countries, and until 
the Reformation and astronomy broke its power of perse- 
cution, it was the worst religion the world was ever cursed 
with. Since the Reformation it has been gradually, but 
very slowly, growing better, and as it loses power by its 
division into sects, it grows more tolerant, but yet retains 
its persecuting spirit, as is shown even now by its persecu- 
tion of our mediums ; but it is softening as the popular 
mind is fast getting out of its control, so it cannot use the 
persecuting power it did in the earlier Protestant ages. 
It runs now almost entirely into pride and temple show. 
It saves the rich now which it ignored in its early history, 
and neglects the poor it then saved." 

"Christianity and Civilization. 

14 We so often hear and read how Christianity has civ- 
ilized the world that it leads a critic to examine history 
to see how and when it did it. In tracing the history of 
Christianity back, it terminates with Constantine and his 



260 FORTY YEARS ON 

mother in the third century of our era, in which he estab- 
lished the Christian Church and its trinity, and she mirac- 
ulously discovered the true cross on which Jesus was fab- 
ulously crucified, and many other holy objects and places, 
which are still held sacred by the Catholic Church. Chris- 
tianity proper does not include Paul and his co-laborers, 
and still less the Jesus, whether real or fictitious, and his 
poor fishermen disciples, who are said to have opposed 
the private and popular religion of that time and country 
as much as Spiritualists do those of our day, and to have 
been persecuted by them in the same way, while he and 
his poor, ignorant, and mendicant followers were poor 
and powerless, and they rich, proud, and haughty. Leav- 
ing out the two hundred years in which the heresy in 
and among the Jews, for some cause, spread in Western 
Asia, we come to the foundation of the true Christian 
Church under that most wicked founder, Constantine, 
who, unfortunately for England, was born and educated 
there, and with his sainted mother founded the Church, 
after he, through a bloody path, had reached the head of 
the Roman Empire and had his seat of government at 
Constantinople. If any honest student of history will 
take up the history of Christianity as it was organized, 
established, and founded there and then, on murders, 
persecution, plunder, and rapine, and tell me where civil- 
ization began in its history, I will be greatly obliged to 
him, or her, as I cannot find the point of time nor the 
civilized steps in its progress. History informs us that 
Mohammedanism, which started four hundred years later, 
spread more rapidly and has held even pace with it ever 
since in the promulgation of its religious devotion and in 
numbers, and it also informs us that both were propa- 
gated, extended, and enforced by wars, murders, perse- 
cution, and confiscation, and that civilization was checked 
and retarded by the cloud of superstition and ignorance 



THE SPIRITUAL ROSTRUM. 261 

which the Church spread over its dominions, in the dark 
ages, when the Saracens gained rapidly upon them by 
letting in more light through the interstices of their reli- 
gion. If any one can find the footprints of civilization 
in Christian history, from Constantine to the present Pope 
and Victoria, he, or she, can do what I cannot. I have 
read up the history quite carefully, of the murderous and 
plundering wars of Christian Rome, in its subjection of 
Europe and its crusade attempt to take the Holy Land 
from the Saracens, with the help of the Christian trini- 
tarian God and the blessings of the Pope, and prayers of 
all good Christians, and the sacrifice of millions of lives. 
I have followed the bloody path of Christian history 
through the expulsion of Jews from Spain, down to the 
recent expulsion from Christian Russia, and find Moham- 
medans far more civilized in the treatment of them. I 
have long ago read up the terrible Christian cruelties of 
the Inquisition ; of the persecution of heretics, when they 
were themselves heretics to the Jews, who gave birth, 
foundation, and religious strength to all the religion they 
had. I have read of the terrible wholesale slaughter in 
the early days of Protestantism, and of both parties 
equally guilty as each had power, coming clown to our 
own country, and its records stained with the blood of 
Quakers, mediums, called l witches ' and ' warlocks ' in 
Christian Massachusetts. I have followed European his- 
tory in constant war, with Christianity in both armies and 
plenty of chaplains on both sides, and fire and faggot tor 
the poor unfortunate peacemakers, like Joan of Arc, 
when caught and given over to the Church. I still read 
of the standing armies and navies of Christian nations in 
readiness for slaughter the day that the least provocation 
is given, and yet these nations boast of civilization, 
which never can exist where armies and navies arc. We 
come the nearest to it in this couutrv, and even here we 



262 FOBTY YEAKS ON 

are organizing and drilling militia to put down the laborers 
when they strike or assemble to talk over their grievances. 
They must be peaceable, as they should be, and talk 
politics, which are not prohibited, and then they will 
escape slaughter, but not by riots, as they are then in 
the wrong. 

" I watched closely the Christian war we had with that 
eminent Christian, Jeff Davis, and his Christian cabinet 
and officers, with the prayerful Stone wallJackson and the 
many chaplains in both armies, and a sufficiency of prayers 
behind them ; and though I could see plenty of the popular 
modern and ancient Christianity in both armies, I could 
discover no civilization, not even in Libby prison. It is 
true there were some noble women who went unarmed to 
the relief of sufferers, and these were civilized, but not 
the armed men and those who claimed to be Christians, 
no more so than atheists. If I could find the nation that 
Christianity has civilized, I should at once give it the 
credit. That Christian nations are the most enlightened 
I do not deny, but to me it seems that the wars even 
have done more toward civilizing them than Christianity. 
So far as I have been able to discover, no religion on 
earth (except, perhaps, Mohammedanism) has had as 
bloody, bloodthirsty, and cruel a historic record as Chris- 
tianity, and certainly it is not done with blood yet, as it 
sings and prays and preaches the bloody code Of washing 
and saving by blood. Spiritualism will civilize it if it 
ever gets the power, as the spirits do not murder in their 
world." 

" Holy Days. 

" To some people one day in every seven, called a 
week, is more holy than the others. To me, all days and 
all time is holy, and we have no right to desecrate, abuse, 
or waste any of them or of it, and no one part is to me 



THE SPIRITUAL ROSTRUM. 263 

more holy than another, and yet I would have one day in 
every seven set apart for rest and recreation — not dese- 
cration. If one day in seven is holy, and the others are 
not, it would be necessary to know on what meridian line 
of longitude the holy day and what hour it began, which, 
I believe, has never been ascertained. Nor has it been 
settled which day in our seven, all named for heathen 
deities, is the holy one. It would require a congress of 
nations to settle that. 

" Sunday is named for the sun-god, but it is the holy 
day of most Christians, but not of all of them. Its 
sacredness certainly could not be derived from the Jews 
and the command of Jehovah to rest on the seventh, as this 
is the first ; hence it cannot derive any sacredness from the 
Old or New Testament, but get it all from decrees of the 
Catholic Church, which fixed the date of the resurrection 
of Jesus and took it from that fabulous event. Monday 
is named for the moon, and is the holy day of Greeks, 
and as sacred to them as Sunday is to Christians, and to 
me also. Tuesday is named for Tuisco, a deity of some 
little renown, and is the holy day of the Persians, and to 
them and me as holy as Sunday. Wednesday is named 
for Woden, a tutelary deity who is supposed to hold the 
winds and weather, and is the holy day of the Assyrians, 
and is also one of mine. Thursday is named for Thor, 
another little god worthy of a day name, and is the holy 
day of the Egyptians, and as sacred to them and me as 
Sunday is in our country. Friday is named for Friga, a 
goddess, and the only female in the list, except Luna, the 
moon, which is supposed to be an old maid, and Friday 
is the holy day of the Mohammedans, and very sacred to 
them, and me, as it is my lucky day. Saturday is Darned 
for Seator, another little deity, and is the holy day of the 
Jews and some Christians, as being the seventh in our 
numerical record, which is not ancient, and which was 



264 FORTY YEARS ON 

changed when not long ago we dropped out eleven days 
from the old style to begin the new style of counting and 
dividing the year. There is no way I can perceive of 
finding the holy day except mine of making all of the 
time sacred, and sacredly doing our duty every day and 
all of the time, and using it properly, and in it ' grow 
better and wiser as life wears away.' " 

" Religious Relics. 

"In analyzing Christianity and its creeds, symbols, 
ceremonies, and sacred objects, it is found to have very 
little that is new or original. Its holy cross is an ancient 
fetich with a sacred history of peculiar origin. It was 
not an instrument of torture used by the Jews, who never 
put criminals to death by crucifixion, and there is no his- 
toric evidence that they adopted it for Jesus. The Ro- 
mans did use it before the Christian era and often nailed 
the bodies to it for exhibition after they were strangled 
and dead, but it is not at all probable that they crucified 
Jesus for blasphemy, as they were the rulers of Jerusa- 
lem, and not Herod, at the date of our era, and they were 
blasphemers of the Jewish God and had their own deities 
and despised the Jewish God and priesthood as much as 
he could. The cross derives no sacredness as a fetich 
for Christians from that event even if it did occur, of 
which there is no historic certainty, but it is a religious 
relic of very ancient date and made holy by the blessings 
of priests. The Hindoos have holy water made holy by 
priests as the Catholics have_, and holy beads and other 
charms similar to our Catholics, but which the Protestants 
have largely dropped out of their list of holy things. 

"High mountains were places of worship by the sun- 
worshippers, because they could see their god earlier and 
later from the mountain top and tower top and steeple 
top, and like Moses, who could not look his god in the 



THE SPIRITUAL ROSTRUM. 265 

face at noonday, could see his hinder parts as he was 
leaving at evening in the west. It is also probable that 
it took this sun-god forty days to harden the clay into 
stone on which Moses had inscribed in Egyptian hiero- 
glyphics his ten commandments and which he so easily 
destro}'ed in his anger and renewed by forty more days 
of sun-drying. The towers and steeples of our modern 
churches are relics of the sun-worship and its mountains ; 
they have no other use and are an expensive nuisance as 
a religious relic. That the Lord's Prayer is a relic of the 
sun-worshippers has long been known, and as applied to 
the Father of light and life which (not who) art in the 
heaven (sky) and gave our bread and the light to lead us 
out of the temptations of darkness by its light, and whose 
name was glorified or hallowed (haloed) , shining and giv- 
ing light, which is all there is to glory or halo. 

"Prayers and supplications are modified relics of 
ancient offerings required by the priests and by which 
they keep control over the devotees and in return for 
which, so far as any change or variation in nature and 
its laws are concerned, or any special favors gained from 
beyond finite intelligences, there is no more than there 
was from the offerings of doves and bullocks. Asking 
God to bless the king and queen or the rulers, however 
wicked and cruel they were, was and is, a religious relic, 
first forced upon the people by tyrants as a religious duty, 
and kept up even in our free religious country and by our 
chaplains in legislative halls and the army. Blessing and 
thanking the Lord for every event in nature and its laws 
that is a blessing to us is a relic of religious tyranny 
which did not allow any complaints when calamities came 
from the same source, but taught the people to say. - The 
Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away ; blessed be the 
name of the Lord.'" 



266 FORTY YEARS ON 



CHAPTER IX. 

POETICAL SELECTIONS FROM AUTHORS KNOWN AND UNKNOWN, 
IN SCRAPS OF TRUE POETRY, AND IN JINGLE OF WORDS, 

WITH SUBJECTS FOR THOUGHT VARIETY AS A SPICE IN 

LIFE. 

" wad some power the giftie gie us 
To see oursels as ithers see us ! 
It wad f rae mony a blunder free us 
And foolish notion." 

[A majority of the spirits that have written or spoken, even as 
far back as David and Solomon's time, have attempted to make 
poetry, and in our time some is beautiful almost beyond descrip- 
tion, and a vast amount a mere jingle of words, unfit to print, 
and yet often there is in it some subject for thought. Much that 
I insert here is not from spirits, and some is, and I mix it for 
variety and preservation.] 

ANNIVERSARY THOUGHTS, 

OUR THIRTY-NINTH ANNIVERSARY. 

Thirty-nine years since the angels of love 

Eapped at humanity's door, 
Opening the way from the regions above 

Back to our error-dark shore, 
Bearing a message from heavenly spheres 

Met with rejection and scorn, 
Bringing a balm for earth's sorrow and tears 

Cursed on its fair natal morn. 
Falsehood arose with its silvery tongue 

Quick to pervert and betray ; 
Slander went forth, and the vile song she sung 

Echoes around us to-day. 



THE SPIRITUAL EOSTRXJM. 267 

Thirty-nine years since the angels of peace 

Vowed at the altar divine 
That the foul wrongs on the earth-plane should cease, 

Righteousness clearer should shine ; 
Vowed by the tears that they marked in their flow, 

Vowed by the ignorance too ; 
Vowed by the discord and terror and woe, 

The false should give way to the true. 
Creeds should fall low with their teachings uncouth, 

Signs should be set in the sky, 
And 'neath the radiant glory of truth, 

Dark superstition should die. 

Thirty-nine years since the angels of might — 

Intellects worthy and strong, 
Banded to bear the blest tidings of right 

Earthward through shadows of wrong. 
To-day we would trace the sweet story again 

From where the effort begun, 
Over and over with voice and with pen, 

How the great conflict was won. 
To-day we would stand 'neath the sunshine agleam 

Out on the mountains sublime, 
Looking once more down the shadowy stream 

That flows through the valley of time. 

Thirty-nine years, and the liberal thought 

Shines over lowland and hill, 
Lessons of beauty are everywhere taught — 

Brotherly love and good will. 
Life is made grander and truth is made free, 

Fair recognition is won ; 
But in the light of to-day we can see 

Much that remains to be done. 
'Neath its white banner so high and so broad, 



268 FORTY YEARS ON 

Floating above every need, 
Crawls the fell serpent of slime we call fraud. 
Born in the bosom of greed. 

Thirty-nine years, and to-day the demand 

Comes from its truths that endure, 
That its fair altars so holy and grand, 

From this dark blot be kept pure. 
To-day they are gathering from mansions of joy — 

Gathering with blessings untold^ 
This would they ask, " that no dross or alloy 

E'er have a place with the gold." 
Rise ! O ye workers, and wipe out the stain, 

Join hands with the ones o'er the way, 
Lift up the truth to a holier plane 

On this Anniversary Day. Emma Train. 

WILLIAM DENTON. 

A TRIBUTE TO ONE OF THE ABLEST AND BOLDEST ADVOCATES 
OF SPIRITUALISM. 

Who traced fair knowledge to its source 
And followed it through all its course 
And gave to science spirit force ? 
William Denton. 

Who found a sermon all unknown 
Within each pebble, rock, and stone, 
And preached it with unfaltering tone ? 
William Denton. 

Who saw in falsehood bitter foe, 
And met it when the tide was low, 
And gave back bravely blow for blow ? 
William Denton. 



THE SPIRITUAL ROSTRUM. 269 

Who read the strength of spirit power 
Within each silent rock and flower, 
And heard it in each summer shower? 
William Denton. 

Who voiced the truth most strong and clear 
And had for bigotry no fear, 
But trusted to the angels near ? 
William Denton. 

Who left his home, with naught to mar, 
To search for truth o'er lands afar, 
'Neath burning sun and chilling star? 
William Denton. 

Whose spirit sought the purer day 
And left the garb of silent clay 
Within a country far away ? 
William Denton. 

Whose form was laid in nature's lot, 
Where grows the wild forget-me-not, 
Without a stone to mark the spot? 
William Denton. 

Who lives in realms beyond the skies, 
And often when the daylight dies 
Returns with thoughts all pure and wise ? 
William Denton. 

When Spiritualism comes to trace 
The scroll that tells its leaders grace, 
What name shall have an honored place ? 
William Denton. 

Emma Train. 



270 FORTY YEARS ON 



PROGRESSION. 



The gloomy night is breaking. 

E'en now the sunbeams rest, 

With a faint yet cheering radiance,, 

On the hill-tops of the West. 

The mists are slowly rising 

From the valley and the plain, 

And a spirit is awakening 

That shall never sleep again. 

And ye may hear that listen 

The spirit's stirring song, 

That surges like the ocean 

With its solemn base along. 

Ho ! can ye stay the rivers 

Or bind the wings of light ? 

Or bring back to the morning 

The old, departed night? 

Nor shall ye check my impulse, 

Nor stay it for an hour, 

Until earth's groaning millions 

Have felt its healing power. 

This spirit is Progression, 

In the vigor of its youth, 

The foenian of oppression, 

And its armor is the truth. 

Old Error with its legions 

Must fall beneath its wrath, 

But blood, nor tears, nor anguish 

Will mark its brilliant path. 

But onward, upward, heavenward, 

The spirit still will soar, 

Till peace and love shall triumph 

And falsehood reign no more. 

Frances D. Gage. 



THE SPIRITUAL ROSTRUM. 271 

HYMN OF THE BATTLE. 

Can ye lessen the hours of the dying night, 

Or chain the wings of the morning light ? 

Can ye seal the springs of the ocean-deep, 

Or bind the thunders in silent sleep ? 
The sun that rises, the seas that flow, 
The thunders of heaven all answer, No. 

Can ye drive young spring from the blossomed earth ? 
The earthquake still, in its awful birth? 
Will the hand on Time's dial backward flee, 
Or the pulse of the universe pause for thee ? 

The shaken mountains, the flowers that blow, 

The pulse of the universe answer, No. 

Can ye burn a truth in the martyr's fire ? 
Or chain a thought in the dungeon dire ? 
Or stay the soul when it soars away, 
In glorious life from the mouldering clay? 

The truth that liveth, the thoughts that go, 

The spirit ascending, all answer, No. 

O priest ! O despot ! your doom they speak, 
For God is mighty, as ye are weak. 
Your night and your winter from earth must roll, 
Your chains must melt from the limb and soul. 

Ye have wrought us wrong, ye have brought us woe. 

Shall ye triumph longer? We answer, No. 

Ye have builded your temples with gems impearled, 
On the broken heart of a famished world ; 
Ye have crushed its heroes in desert graves, 
Ye have made its children a race of slaves. 

O'er the future age shall the ruin go ? 

We gather against ye and answer, No. 



272 FORTY YEAKS ON 

Ye laugh in scorn from your shrines and towers; 
But weak are ye, for the truth is ours. 
In arms, in gold, and in pride ye move, 
But we are stronger, — our strength is love. 

Slay truth and love with the curse and blow ? 

The beautiful heavens, they answer, No. 

The winter night of the world is past, 
The day of humanity dawns at last ; 
The veil is rent from the soul's calm eyes, 
And prophets, and heroes, and seers arise. 

Their words and deeds like the thunders go ; 

Can ye stifle their voices ? They answer, No. 

It is God who speaks in their words of might, 
It is God who acts in their deeds of right. 
Lo ! Eden waits, like a radiant bride ; 
Humanity springeth elate to her side. ■ 

Can ye sever the twain who to oneness flow ? 

The voice of Divinity answers, No. 

Thomas L. Harris. 



A wonderful thing is a seed, 

The one thing deathless forever, 

The one thing changeless, utterly true, 

Forever old, and forever new, 

And fickle and faithless never. 

Plant blessings, and blessings will bloom ; 
Plant hate, and hate will grow. 
You sow to-day — to-morrow will bring 
The blossom that proves what sort of thing 
Is the seed — the seed that you sow. 

Anonymous. 



THE SPIRITUAL ROSTRUM. 273 

WHY FEAR TO DIE? 

What if the seed put in the ground 

Refuse to sprout and grow ? 
Where should we see the mighty tree 

Or flower in summer's glow ? 
The seed must die, but in its death 

Feels an awakening power 
That bears it on to higher life, 

In lovely plant and flower. 
And if man might refuse to die, 

And still to this dull spot 
Cling with unwavering desire, 

How wretched were his lot ! 
His clay must perish, but in death 

A changeless form is given, 
In which the spirit germ unfolds 

Through its career in heaven. 
Sordid the mind and dull the soul 

That never would go forth 
Upon its upward, onward flight, 

Beyond this humble earth. 
And low in being's scale it is 

To wish no higher sphere, 
To be content with all the sin 

And shame that shroud us here. 
To me earth seems a stepping-stone 

To higher worlds above, 
A place where hate and wrongs are felt 

To teach the worth of love. 
Decked in immortal forms we fly 

From sorrow and unrest, 
To realms where hearts are sundered not, 

And love is ne'er unblest. 

Owen G. Warren. 



274 FCfKTY YEARS ON" 



THE DEAD. 



Say not the dead return to us no more, 

When in the grave their withered clay is lying. 

Think not communion with our friends is o'er, 

When we have seen them close their eyes in dying. 

Hath the soul then no other habitation 

Than this pale clay, so feeble and so worn? 

Must love, with that cold heart's last palpitation, 

Die into night and know no waking morn ? 

Oh, no ! we are not sundered by the grave ; 

The heart we loved is no cold night-watch keeping ; 

In that dark home o'er which the willows wave, 

That loving heart is done with death and sleeping. 

And o'er us and around us comes the spirit, 

Wooing us still as erst we loved to love, 

Through all our dreams its shadowy pinions bear it, 

Near us forever wheresoe'er we rove. 

Parted ! — we are not parted — blind 

And dull the soul that does not know it present ; 

That does not feel the influence soft and kind, 

Though airy be the form and evanescent. 

Ne'er would I look down in weeping sadness 

Upon the grave and say the loved lies there : 

'Tis but the clay cast off with joy and gladness, 

By the freed soul now chainless as the air. 

The one we love, whose absence we deplore, 

Is with us, near us in our hours of sorrow, 

Waiting to clasp us when our task is o'er, 

And we, too, hail the everlasting morrow. 

Then never be the brow in sadness shaded 

When friends put off their worn-out robes of clay ; 

But with the eye of faith and hope be aided, 

To see them newly clad in robes of day. 

J. W. Spaulding. 



THE SPIRITUAL ROSTRUM. 275 

NATURE'S GIFTS. 

But for him whose cloudy looks 
Are bent on law and ledger books, 
Prisoned among the heated bricks, 
The slave of traffic, toil, and tricks ; 
For him who worshippeth alone 
Beneath the drowsy preacher's drone, 
Where creed and text like fetters cling 
Upon the spirit's struggling wing ; 
For him whom fashion's laws have tamed, 
Till the sweet heavens are nigh ashamed 
To lead him from his poisoned food 
Into their healthy solitude, — 
Such as these we leave behind, 
Blind companions of the blind. 
Little know they of the balm, 
And the beauty, wise and calm, 
Treasured up at nature's breast 
For the sick heart that needeth rest. 

C. P. Cranch. 



He who seeks the truth and trembles 

At the dangers he must brave, 
Is not fit to be a freeman ; 

He, at best, is but a slave. 

He who knows the truth and places 

Its high promptings under ban, 
Loud may boast of all that's manly, 

But can never be a man. 

W. D. Galligher. 



276 FOKTY YEAKS ON 



COWARDICE. 

The veriest coward upon earth 

Is he who fears the world's opinion, 

Who acts with reference to its will, 

His conscience swayed by its dominion. 

Mind is not worth a feather's weight, 
That must by other minds be measured ; 

Self must direct and self control, 
And the account with conscience treasured. 

Fear never sways a manly soul, 

For honest hearts 'twas ne'er intended. 

They — only they have cause to fear, 
Whose motives have the truth offended. 

What will my neighbors say if I 

Should this attempt, or that, or t'other? 

A neighbor is most sure a foe 

If he prove not a helping brother. 

That man is brave who braves the world, 
When o'er life's sea his bark he steereth ; 

Who keeps that guiding star in view, 
A conscience clear which never veereth. 



Anonymous. 



THE SPIRITUAL ROSTRUM. 277 

THE DAY OF THE LORD AT HAND. 

The day of the Lord is at hand, at hand, 

The storms roll up the sky ; 
A nation sleeps starving on heaps of gold, 

All dreamers toss and sigh. 
When the pain is sorest, the child is born, 
And the day is darkest before the morn 

Of the day of the Lord at hand. 

Gather you, gather you, angels of God, 

Chivalry, justice, and truth ; 
Come, for the earth is grown coward and old, 

Come down and renew us her youth. 
Freedom, self-sacrifice, mercy, and love, 
Haste to the battle-field — stoop from above, 

To the day of the Lord at hand. 

Gather you, gather you, hounds of hell, 

Famine and plague and war — 
Idleness, bigotry, cant and misrule, 

Gather and fall in the snare. 
Hirelings and mammonites, pedants and knaves, 
Crowd to the battle or sneak to your graves, 

In the day of the Lord at hand. 

Who would sit down and whine for a lost age of gold 

While the Lord of all ages is here ? 
True hearts will leap up at the trumpet of God, 

And those who can suffer can dare. 
Each past age of gold was an iron age too, 
And the meekest of saints may find stern work to do 

In the day of the Lord at hand. 

Charles Kingsky. 



278 FORTY YEARS ON 



FRIEND OF MINE. 

Wouldst thou be a friend of mine? 

Thou must be quick and bold, 
When the right is to be done, 

And the truth is to be told. 

Wearing no friendlike smile 

When thy heart is not within ; 
Making no truce with fraud or guile, 

No compromise with sin. 

Open of eye and speech, 

Open of heart and hand, 
Holding thine own but as in trust 

For thy great brother band. 

Patient and stout to bear, 

Yet bearing not forever ; 
Gentle to rule, and slow to bind, 

Like lightning to deliver. 

True to thy fatherland, 

True to thine own true love, 
True to thine altar and thy creed 

And thy good God above. 

But with no bigot scorn 

For faith sincere as thine, 
Though less of form attend the prayer, 

Or more of pomp the shrine. 

" Voices of the True- Hearted.'' 



THE SPIRITUAL ROSTRUM. 279 

BE THYSELF. 

Be thyself, my friend and brother, 

Do thy duty, faithfully ; 
Covet not to be another, 

Work thy way, and thou shalt see 
There's a sphere of useful action 

Circling every son of man ; 
Spite of prejudice or faction, 

He who would be useful, can. 

What though some may far outshine thee 

In the brilliant sphere of wit ; 
Be it so, nor yet repine thee, 

What thou art, that, that is it : 
What thou art ; aye, use thy power, 

Work with all the might thou hast ; 
Loiter not a single hour ; 

Do thy duty to the last. 

Do thy duty, act thy part, 

Labor with a right good-will. 
Labor in the sphere assigned thee ; 

Labor for thy brother man ; 
Labor, and success shall find thee ; 

Do thy work : no other can. 

If it be to ply the anvil, 

Or to break the virgin soil, 
Or whatever else it may be, 

Seek not, ask not, lighter toil. 
There's a secret thrill of gladness 

Waits thee when thy work is done. 
Labor, tho' it be in sadness, 

Be thyself and labor on ; "■ 

Nothing of thy work shall perish 

Nothing of the good and true. Anon. 



280 FORTY YEARS ON 



THE MAN I LOVE. 

I love the man who scorns to be 

To name or sect a slave ; 
Whose soul is like the sunshine free, 

Free as the ocean wave ; 

Who when he sees Oppression's wrong, 

Speaks out in thunder tones ; 
Who feels with truth that he is strong 

To grapple even with thrones. 

I love the man who scorns to do 

An action mean or low ; 
Who will a noble course pursue 

To stranger, friend, or foe ; 

Who seeks for justice, not for gain ; 

Is merciful and kind ; 
Who will not give a needless pain 

To body or to mind. 

I love the man whose only boast 

Is wisdom, virtue, right; 
Who feels if truth is ever lost, 

His honor has a blight. 

Who ne'er evades by look or sign, 

In every place the same : 
Methinks the glories are divine 

That cluster round his name. 

William Denton. 



THE SPIRITUAL ROSTRUM. 281 

HARMONY OF SPIRIT. 

Nightly do my footsteps stray 

In that valley hid from day, 

Happy from ill cares to flee, 

Where in peace I walk with thee. 

Overhead are smiling skies, 
Beautiful with rainbow dyes, 
While the soft enchanted air 
Breathes around us everywhere, 

All the shadows of the day 

By a spell are charmed away ; 

Not a doubt disturbs the hours, 

Passed with thee in dreamland bowers. 

High the waves that roll, I ween, 
Walking here our souls between ; 
But we pass them o'er and o'er, 
With one bound upon that shore. 

There, as if by magic art, 
Opes for me thy long-sealed heart, 
And I read its fair leaves through, 
Glowing, tender, strong, and true. 

Speech I have not, but to thee 

Of my soul I give the key ; 

And as flowers unfold to light, 

'Neath thy gaze it grows more bright, 

Then as thy soft, shadowy eyes 

Ask of mine and give replies, 

What care I, the world forgot, 

That it comprehends me not. 

Thus, oh thus, when daylight grows 
Into silence and repose, 
Row I o'er that charmed sea, 
Where in peace I walk with thee. Anon. 



282 FORTY YEAES ON 



THE TIME TO BE. 



I sit where the leaves of the maple 

And the gnarled and knotted gum 
Are circling and drifting around me, 
And think of the time to come. 

For the human heart is the mirror 

Of the things that are near and far, 
Like the wave that reflects on its bosom 
The flower and the distant star. 

As change is the order of nature, v 
And beauty springs from decay, 
So in the distant season 

The false for the true makes way. 
The darkening power of evil 

And discordant joy and crime 
Are the cry preparing the wilderness 
For the flower and the harvest time ; 

Though doubting and weak misgivings 

May rise to the soul's alarm, 
Like the ghosts of heretic burners 
In the province of bold reform. 

And now as the summer is fading, 
And the cold clouds full of rain, 
And the net in the fields of stubble 
And the briers, is spread in vain, 

I catch through the mists of life's river 

A glimpse of the time to be, 
When the chain from the bondman rusted 
Shall leave him erect and free 

On the solid and broad foundation, 

A common humanity's right, 
To cover his branded shoulder 

With the garment of love from sight. 

Alice Gary. 



THE SPIRITUAL ROSTRUM. 283 



ENTRANCE OF EDGAR A. POE INTO SPIRIT LIFE. 

First a harp of thrilling numbers 
Roused me gently from my slumbers, 

And its tone 
O'er my waking spirit stealing, 
Kindling up a spirit feeling, 
In its music sweet revealing 

Heaven's own. 

Then a being pure and holy, 
Through a door retiring slowly, 

Half disclosed 
To my soul's enraptured vision, 
Those eternal fields Elysian, 
Where the blest, in full fruition, 

There reposed. 

Then a being fairer, brighter, 
Something smaller, something lighter, 
And with raiment purer, whiter, 

Came in view. 
Then her face was half averted, 
Gazing back from where she started ; 
'Twas my lost, my loving hearted, 

Well I knew. 

For a moment there she lingers, 
And the beautiful white fingers 

Of Lenore, 
Swept across the harp so shining, 
Which the angel left reclining 

'Gainst the door ; 



284 FORTY YEARS ON 

Then as if some word receiving, 
Half in doubt, yet half believing, 

Gazed around ; 
And at once she saw and knew me, 
And at once she came unto me 

With a bound. 

Oh ! the rapture of that meeting, 
Of that blessed spirit greeting, 

Is unknown. 
They can never, till they pass the deep dark river 
Which divides this world forever 

From our own, 

Comprehend how hearts once blighted 
In a world by sin benighted, 
Are forever re-united 

On the shore 
Of that river brightly glowing, 
From eternal fountains flowing, 
Where the tree of life is growing 

Evermore. 

Inspirational ; Medium Anon. 



SPIRIT PRESENCE. 

The eye must be dark that so long has been dim, 

E'er again it may gaze upon thine ; 
But my heart has revealings of thee and thy home 

In many a token and sign. 
I need but look up, with a vow to the sky, 

Where far off a bright vision appears, 



THE SPIRITUAL ROSTRUM. 285 

And I hear a low murmur like thine in reply, 
When I pour out my spirit in tears. 

I know thou hast gone to the land of the blest ; 

Then why should my soul be so sad? 
To the land where the souls of the weary do rest, 

And the mourner looks up and is glad. 
I know thou hast gone where thy forehead is starred 

With the beauty that dwelt in thy soul ; 
Where the light of thy loveliness cannot be marred, 

Nor thy feet be flung back from thy goal. 

I know thou hast drank of the Lethe that flows 

Through a land where they do not forget ; 
That sheds over memory, only repose, 

And -leaves behind only regret, — 
To the land where the soul has put off at its birth 

The stains it had gathered in this, 
And Hope, the sweet singer that gladdened the earth, 

Lies asleep in the bosom of bliss. 
In thy far-away dwelling, wherever it be, 

I believe thou hast visions of mine, 
And the love that made all things a music to me 

I have never yet learned to resign. 
In the hush of the night, 

On the waste of the sea, 
Or alone by the breeze on the hill, 

I have ever a presence that whispers of thee, 
And my spirit lies down and is still. 

T. K. Eervey. 



286 FORTY YEARS ON 



DOUBT NOT; JOY SHALL COME AT LAST. 

When the day of life is dreary, 

And when gloom thy course enshrouds ; 
When thy step is faint and weary, 

And thy spirit dark with clouds ; 
Steadfast still in thy well-doing, 

Let thy soul forget the past ; 
Steadfast still the right pursuing, 

Doubt not ! joy shall come at last. 

Striving still and onward pressing, 

Seek not future years to know ; 
But deserve the wished-for blessing, 

It shall come, though it come slow. 
Never tiring, upward gazing, 

Let thy fears aside be cast, 
And thy trials, tempting, braving : 

Doubt not ! joy shall come at last. 

Keep not, then, thy mind regretting ; 

Seek the good, spurn evil's thrall ; 
Though thy path thy foes besetting, 

Thou shalt triumph o'er them all. 
Though each year but bring thee sadness. 

And thy youth be fleeting fast, 
There'll be time enough for gladness : 

Doubt not ! joy shall come at last. Anon. 



THE SPIRITUAL ROSTRUM. 287 

SAMUEL TUTTLE OF SOUTH HARD WICK, VT., TO HIS 
WIFE SUSAN, 

On the Thirteenth Anniversary of their Wedding, 
Jan. 2, 1866; now Both in Spirit Life. 

Turn back life's book, review each page, 

My darling wife ; 
Thirteen short years is just our age 

Of wedded life. 

Though much we've known of good and ill 

In life thus far, 
Love's beacon light is on the hill, 

Our guiding star. 

Now o'er the past fond memories crowd. 

Each claims a share ; 
Like summer's sunset on the cloud, 

Love's smile is there. 

Our hearts have been with anguish torn, 

With grief and care, 
When dearest friends were from us borne, 

We knew not where. 

Since Bible times no one comes back, 

The preachers say, 
Excepting on the Devil's track, 

Along the way. 

We know our spirit friends return 

Our home to cheer ; 
And of the higher life we learn 

While churchites sneer. 



288 FORTY YEARS ON 

Angels have thrown o'er death's dark stream 

A bridge of light ; 
The priests start up with nightmare scream 

And sad affright. 

They know their tyrant rule and power 

Will soon abate, 
And brimstone light and Devil lore 

Be out of date. 

We've left old creeds all threadbare worn, 

For truth to search, 
To often meet with slander born 

Within the church. 

Let bigots like old driftwood float, 

Or deadwood sink ; 
We side by side will row our boat, 

And dare to think, 

Until we join our gathered band 

On life's bright shore, 
Among the flowers in summer land 

To part no more. 



WRITTEN OF WARREN CHASE, 
By a Spirit through E. Walker, Medium, in 1853. 

He speaks with a voice of thunder, 

Its echoes resounding afar ; 
He reads from the throne of Heaven 

And learns from the twinkling star. 
He rose like the sun in the East, 

Proclaiming, My work must be done ; 



• THE SPIRITUAL ROSTRUM. 289 

We sought him, and found in him truth, 
A standard to build upon. 

Oh, when will man learn to be true, 

Both to himself and others ? 
For when he is true to himself, 

He will also be true to his brothers. 
Why should we others' gardens weed 

When our own are overgrown ? 
No one is born so pure 

That he stands all alone. 

Nor need we point to others' faults, 

That ours we may not see, 
For in the very act we show 

That we are not quite free. 
But let us strive to know ourselves, 

And in ourselves be strong, 
But not deceive ourselves, and say, 

I am right, and all others wrong. 

THE CRUCIFIED. 

By B. W. Stoddard, an Uneducated Medium. 
Written for Warren Chase. 

Because I speak of man's deep sin, of woman's virtue lost, 
And of the multitudes of souls, rude, by transgression 

tossed, 
A legion of dark foes draw near to cast my plea aside ; 
By scorn and hate, envy and lies, my soul is crucified. 

Because I speak of brutal vice, so rife among all men. 
Who move unmindful of the law responsible with them, 
'Tis then the spear of malice poised will seek to pierce 

my side ; 
My reputation by their blast is rudely crucified. 



290 FORTY YEARS ON 

Because I speak of a reform upon this mundane land, 
And wish the different sexes all in their true sphere to 

stand, 
That on a true and normal plane our race be multiplied, 
My heart by ignorance and sin is rudely crucified. 

But oh, there gleams a brighter day ; my words will not 
be lost, 

And some poor soul may see the light while on these bil- 
lows tossed ; 

And it may, as a bright star, rise o'er life's tempestuous 
tide, 

And shower praises on the name that they have crucified. 

Transfigurative power I feel, that God will on me smile, 
That suns will pierce the darkening clouds that gather 

for a while ; 
That sorrows dim that enter in will all be moved aside ; 
Then I will work, although my soul be rudely crucified. 

Sometimes confined, disconsolate, I see not Hope's bright 
stars, 

And only blindly, as it were, look through the prison bars. 

Quite weary of my sojourn here, I long to cross the tide 

And seek the shore where high-born Truth is never cru- 
cified. 

When a soft voice saith unto me, Let all such thoughts 
pass o'er, 

And by thy labors here obtain admission to that shore ; 

By battling sorrows, cares, and woes, by fire thy soul is 
tried, 

And as a star thy fame shall shine, though first 'tis cru- 
cified. 

Bright angels come adown my path, while Wisdom's stream- 
let flows, 



THE SPIRITUAL ROSTRUM. 291 

And light divine comes from above, and radiance round 
me throws, 

That I may move the mountain, sin, that doth my joy 
deride, 

And every day the voice that saith, Work on, though cru- 
cified. 

A VISION OF BEAUTY. 

Oh, such a lovely dream last night 

As o'er my vision swept ! 
Did white-winged angels bring to me 

Those beauties while I slept ? 
Or did my fancy roam 

'Mid scenes so fair and bright, 
That painter's pencil could not sketch 

So beautiful a sight ? 

I saw at first a fairy group 

Of little children play ; 
Beside a silvery sparkling fount, 

Like diamonds fill the spray. 
And laughingly they sported round, 

And shook their little curls, 
Which fell in ringlets, soft and light, 

O'er shoulders white as pearls. 

The air was laden with perfume 

Of more than earthly sweet, 
And little, tiny, bright-eyed flowers 

Sprang up beneath their feet. 
I listened, and such strains before 

Had never met my ear ; 
And wondering, I gazed around, 

But saw no minstrel near. 



292 FOBTY YEARS ON 

I looked again and saw a harp 

Of most exquisite mould, 
And only zephyrs swept across 

Its strings of glittering gold. 
And landscapes of such beauty rare 

My eyes have never seen ; 
And birds of loveliest plumage lent 

Enchantment to the scene. 

Why are such pictures given us 

If they are nowhere real ? 
Or is there in some far-off clime 

A type of our ideal ? 
Or can the soul a heaven create, 

That doth nowhere exist ? 
Or is imagination's tower 

The summit of our bliss ? 

No ; something tells me 'tis not so ; 

The child must first be born 
Before a picture can be made 

Of feature, size, and form. 
And shadow ne'er was known to fall 

Without the substance near ; 
Nor is there in the heart a call 

That nature cannot hear. 

^r fl|r tf v * 9 

I fain would awake, I've fallen asleep ; 
I fain would awake where no calumny folds 
Its dark pall of malice round innocent souls ; 
Where no scorpion sting can strike to the core 
Of the heart that in anguish was writhing before ; 
Where envy and hate and scorn never dwell, 
And truth, justice, and love weave a beautiful spell. 

Lizzie Cone, 

Mexico, N. Y. f 1863. 



THE SPIRITUAL ROSTRUM. 293 

FROM MY OLD SCRAP-BOOK. 

I see a land of fadeless light 
Arrayed in Truth's own armor bright ; 
So calm, so peaceful, so serene, 
That all seems heavenly between. 
I long to reach that fadeless goal, 
Where rests the weary, waiting soul ; 
Where buds burst forth forever new, 
In fadeless beauty's changeless hue. 
I long to see that summer land, 
To join that bright, angelic band, 
To listen to those strains of love 
Breathed by the angel choir above. 
I sometimes think they beckon me, 
Their shadowy forms I seem to see ; 
With open arms extended wide 
They watch my pathway o'er the tide ; 
They bring bright garlands in their hands, 
To tempt me o'er the silvery strands, 
And harps of sweetest, softest sound 
O'er the bright waters oft resound. 
And soon my little bark shall be 
All safely moored across the sea ; 
The boatman pale will land me there, 
The beauties of that land to share. 

Lizzie Cone, 

Mexico, N. T. 



THE BROAD-SPREAD WALNUT-TREE. 

I love the mansion that was built 

Near fifty years ago, 
Where my father spent his boyhood days 

And learned to reap and mow ; 



294 FORTY YEARS OK 

Where my mother came a blooming bride 

To share his destiny ; 
But dearer than those stately halls 

Is the broad-spread walnut-tree. 

I love the playground where I danced 

When but a little child, 
And the bubbling brook where oft I strayed 

With sister, meek and mild ; 
And the dear old swing — I love it yet, 

The barn where it used to be ; 
But dearer than those charms of old 

Is the broad-spread walnut-tree. 

I love the orchard with its fruit 

That tempts the passers-by ; 
Beneath its shade and o'er its glade 

I breathed my childish sigh. 
I love the spring, half down the hill, 

Where I drank in childish glee ; 
But the dearest charm of my childhood home 

Is the broad-spread walnut-tree. 

I love the lake with its calm deep blue ; 

I love its deaf ning roar. 
I love the little white pebbles that gleam 

And sparkle on its shore. 
I love the trees that stand on the hill, 

That oft have sheltered me ; 
But the dearest charm of my childhood home 

Is the broad-spread walnut-tree. 

Miss Emma II. Gilbert, 

then of Conneaut, O., on the shore of Lake Erie, 
now Mrs. Caswell, of Geneva, O. 



THE SPIRITUAL ROSTRUM. 295 

ARE THERE THOSE IN HEAVEN THAT LOVE ME? 

Are there those in heaven that love me ? 

Sighed a broken-hearted wife ; 
In the skies that bend above me, 

Is there one I loved in life ? 
Bitter is this lonely anguish, 

All too dear the living — lost — 
Sadly is the tempest wailing 

Through my bark so tempest tossed. 

All the visions of my childhood, 

All the hopes of many years, 
Faded when affection vanished, 

Leaving me to grief and tears : 
'Twas the silent, lonely midnight 

When these dirge-like notes were sent 
From the burning heart of sorrow 

Upward to the firmament. 

Then with noiseless footsteps hasting 

Guardian angels to her side, 
Bathed her soul in living waters, 

Fresh from love's exhaustless tide. 
Round her form their white arms folded, 

Told her of a land of peace, 
Where the beauty and the brightness, 

And the music never cease. 

Then was changed her wail of anguish 

To a burst of joyous song ; 
And a new resolve was kindled 

Still to suffer and be strong. 

Mary Fenn Love, 

later Davis. Written September, 1853. 



296 FORTY YEAES ON 



I KNOW THAT BRIGHT ANGELS ARE WITH ME. 

I know that bright angels are with me 

In all of life's rough, thorny way ; 
I know that with love's hand they lead me, 

And lead up to an endless day. 

I see their sweet smiling faces, 

When my heart is happy and free ; 
And I catch their low, sweet voices, 

As they chant their sweet songs to me. 

When the cloud of misfortune is dark, 
And my heart cries aloud with woe, 

O'er the dark rolling tide in their bark 
Come the angels to their loved one below. 

And I know that the angels are with me, 
When in dreams at midnight I lay ; 

For their mantle of love is about me, 

And the light of their smile cheers the way, 

I know that bright angels are with me, 
By the pity that flows from my heart, 

For the sick and world-weary around me, 
In this land where we meet but to part. 

I know that bright angels do guide me, 

As over the waters of life I float, 
And that safely in heaven they'll land me 

If I trust to their helm and my boat. 

Clara A, Fogg, 

Yarmouth, Me., 1866* 



THE SPIRITUAL ROSTRUM. 297 

NEVER GO GLOOMILY. 

Never go gloomily, man of a mind ; 

Hope is a better companion than fear. 
Providence, ever benignant and kind, 

Gives with a smile what you take with a tear. 
Look to the light, 
All will be right ; 
Morning is ever the daughter of night ; 
All that is black will be that which is bright. 
Cheerily, cheerily, then cheer up. 

Many a foe is a friend in disguise, 

Many a sorrow a blessing most true, 
Teaching the heart to be happy and wise, 
Joys ever present and hope ever new. 
Stand in the van, 
Strive like a man ; 
This is the bravest and cleverest plan. 
Trust in yourself while you do what you can. 
Cheerily, cheerily, then cheer up. 



TO W. C. 

Thy pure love came as the early dew 

Comes unto drooping flowers, 
Dropping its own sweet freshness on 

My life's dull, lonely hours. 
As each pale blossom lifts its head, 
Revived with blessings nis;htlv shed 

By summer breeze and dew, 
So my frail spirit rose beneath 
Love's gentle dews and living breath 

To drink of life anew. 

The author of the above was raised from a bedridden condition to 
health by my magnetism. 



298 FORTY YEARS ON 



NOT LONG. 



Not long shall demagogues oppress the just, 

And trample Innocence beneath the dust. 

Not long shall tyrants persecute the poor, 

And Plenty drive the haggard from her door. 

Not long shall Scorn and sickening Envy smile — 

Their thoughts be daggers while their words are oil, 

Might make the laws to gratify her spleen, 

And talk of Truth her villany to screen. 

Not long shall Pride in lowly aspect sneak, 

The light look solemn, and the brutal meek ; 

Not long — not long — in these progressive days 

When Freedom, Reason, Truth, and Science blaze, — 

Shall burn the sparks of that Satanic zeal, 

That piled the faggot and contrived the wheel. 

Not long shall Neros and Domitians reign, 

And savage Julians sink a world in pain. 

Not long shall Lust the form of Love affect 

And Malice wear the semblance of Respect. 

Not long the gospel be a priest-made plan 

Formed to delight, not sanctify the man. 

Not long shall man with hypocritic face 

Stab the fair cause of Piety and Grace ; 

Make moral Truth and spotless Justice bleed 

And tear each righteous precept from their creed ; * 

Make faith a cloak their villany to screen, 

And God Himself, a minister of sin. 

Not long — not long — for Truth to manhood grown 

Hath drawn her sword to cut the rebel down ; 

And every land amid this world's wide wave 

Ere long shall blush to own she holds a slave ; 

War be no more, but olives proudly bloom 

On Mammon's grave and Despotism's tomb. 

C. B. Knowlton. 

i As they did in Springfield, Mass., in 1887. 



THE SPIRITUAL ROSTRUM. 299 

Mercy to him that shows it is the rule, 

And righteous limitation of its act, 

By which Heaven moves in pardoning guilty man : 

And he that shows none, being ripe in years, 

And conscious of the outrage he commits, 

Shall seek it and not find it in his turn. Cowper. 

44 Who noble ends by noble means obtains, 
Or, failing, smiles in exile or in chains, 
Like good Aurelius, let him reign or bleed ; 
Like Socrates, that man is great indeed." 

"In faith and hope the world will disagree, 
But all mankind's concern is charity." 

44 Disappointment lurks in many a prize, 

As bees in flowers, and stings us with success." 

44 Why should this gross encumbering crust of clay 
Seal up the vision of the spirit's sight? 
Why blind the soul to every spirit ray, 
And harshly drag this inner soul away 

From wond'rous gleamings of celestial light ? " 

44 Love is to the human heart 
What sunshine is to flowers." 

44 One honest John Tompkins, a hedger and ditcher, 
Although he was poor, did not want to be richer ; 
For this he was constantly heard to declare, 
What he could not prevent, he would cheerfully bear. 
And he said that revenging an injury done 
Would be making two rogues when there need be but 
one." 



800 FORTY YEARS ON 



INTUITIONS. 



I sometimes have thoughts in my loneliest hours, 
That lie on my heart like dew on the flowers, 
Of a ramble I took one bright afternoon, 
When my heart was as light as a blossom in June. 

There are moments, I think, when the spirit receives 
Whole volumes of thought in its unwritten leaves ; 
When the folds of the heart in a moment unclose, 
Like the innermost leaves from the heart of a rose. 

I know that each moment of rapture or pain, 
But shortens the links in life's mystical chain. 

Amelia. 



THE VEILED FUTURE. 

Heaven from all creatures hides the book of fate, 
All but the page prescribed their present state. 
From brutes what men, from men what spirits know, 
Or who could suffer being here below? 
The lamb thy riot dooms to bleed to-day, 
Had he thy reason, would he skip and play? 
Pleased to the last, he crops the flow'ry feed, 
And licks the hand just raised to shed his blood. 
Oh, blindness to the future, kindly given, 
That each may fill the circle marked by heaven ; 
Who sees with equal eye as God of all, 
A hero perish or a sparrow fall ; 
Atoms or systems into ruin hurled, 

And now a bubble burst, and now a world. 

Pope. 



THE SPIRITUAL ROSTRUM. 301 

GEMS FROM GEORGE SHEPARD BURLEIGH, 

In His "Maniac, and Other Poems," written before the 
Advent of Modern Sptritualism. 

To him whose secret soul 
Hath never dreamed of those diviner forms 
Which people the bright realms of thought, or sighed 
For the pure incarnation of his dream, 
Love hath no language to reveal her deep, 
Mysterious presence, or the workings of 
Her prevalent spirit ; but to one like him, 
Whose heart from childhood bore an aimless fire, 
While on the clear deeps of his gentle soul, 
In hours of calm, were mirrored the serene 
And lovely forms that hover over us, 
Informing us with beauty — there but needs 
One glance, when eye to eye lends fire, to hear 
Her holiest revelation. 

All things are transient save the Eternal One. 

The veil is woven in the loom of life, 
And every man fills up the delicate warp, 
Between himself and those bright verities, 
With woof of his own being, gross or clear. 
Close by the heart of the serene and pure 
Their warm hearts beat, and lend it holy strength ; 
But to the heart thick bound in earthliness, 
No spirit pulse-beat sends its lifeful thrill. 

Slowly descending from the fading cloud, 
A being, beautiful beyond all thought, 
Came o'er the wood ; a star was on her brow, 
And in her hand a coronal of flowers. 



302 FORTY YEARS ON 

[From many compliments most gladly and thankfully received, 
and which I do not pretend to have deserved, I copy here for 
preservation a few retained, but many more as good are gone, 
or, having been given orally, were not reported.] 

The following lines by E. Clemantine Howarth, were pub- 
lished many years ago, a copy of which clipped from some paper 
was sent to me before I knew anything of the author. 

Respectfully inscribed to Warren Chase. 

Falter not, O faithful hearted, 

Soldier in the cause of right ; 
From thy brethren thou hast parted, 

And art foremost in the fight ; 
For the fragile and the lowly 

Thou hast bared thy shining blade ; 
God is judge — thy cause is holy ; 

Be not doubtful or afraid. 

Falter not, thou faint and weary 

Toiler in the stony field ; 
Though thou seest no token cheery 

Of the harvest it should yield, 
Sow thy seed, the winds shall speed it 

O'er the gardens far away ; 
Where no heavy feet shall tread it, 

It will ripen to the day. 

Falter not, O brave reformer, 

Press thy cause with voice and pen ; 
Thou shalt have a greeting warmer 

Than the tardy praise of men. 
Angels round thee, God above thee, 

See thee in thy manhood's might ; 
Lead the souls that trust and love thee 

Out of darkness into light. 



THE SPIRITUAL NOSTRUM. 303 

A medium, under control of a spirit, dropped into my hand 
the following — I do not remember who it was — long ago : — 

TO W. C. 

Toiling in the field 

Where the laborers are few, 

Sowing precious seed, 
Gathering in the new. 

Where the battle rag;es, 

Foremost in the fight, 
Fearless and undaunted, 

Battling for the right. 

Your path is growing brighter 
As down the vale you glide, 

Hand in hand with angels 
Walking side by side. 

Work from early dawn 
Till the dews begin to weep ; 

You'll be glad that you have sown 
When the angels come to reap. 



In 1887 Mrs. C. Laurens answered an article of mine in the 
Spiritual Offering, headed, " Where do I Belong?" stating that 
I stood between two fires, orthodoxy and atheism, etc., in these 
lines : — 

I saw a man with honest brow and royal heart a king 

might grace, 
Seeking among the creeds of men a worthy place his 

name to trace ; 
Where Superstition rears her head he cannot there his 

name enroll, 



304 FORTY YEARS ON 

Nor yet among the class who say that man has no in> 
mortal soul. 

Another class he sought, and found congenial minds ; but 
even they would bind 

His intellect to worship gods the proof of which he can- 
not find. # 

But now he sees a little band of men all pure and brave, 

Who neither worship human creeds nor call on gods to 
save, 

Who boldly fight for human rights with both tongue and 
pen, 

Whose banner bears this motto fair, "We love our fel- 
low-men." 

He quickly seized the pen and wrote, as he a name did 
trace, 

I stooped and read upon the page and found it, ' ' Warren 
Chase." 

TO WARREN CHASE. 

The years of thy pilgrimage are marching along, 
But time floats onward with thee like a song ; 
For the music of truth with its rhythm sublime, 
With its harmonies sweet and its heavenly chime, 
Ever gladdens thy spirit with the freshness of youth — 
Oh, such is thy power, bright, beautiful truth ! 

Brave Brother, in childhood's years I have read 

Of the grand reformation thy spirit hath led. 

u Life Line of the Lone One" made tender tears start, 

And awakened deep interest for thee in my heart ; 

For thy name was enrolled to lead in the van, 

As a great, and a good, and an honorable man. 

Among the first who dared to say woman was free 
In the realm of love, where as queen she should be ; 



THE SPIRITUAL EOSTRUM. 305 

And womanhood owes thee deep gratitude now, 
And laurels we weave for thy venerable brow. 
Long may's t thou live, humanity's friend, 
And angels of 'love thy footsteps attend. 

May thy heart ever beat with rejoicing and pride, 
That the brave and the true now stand by thy side, 
And spirits who dwell in the bright summer land 
Reach down to earth's saviours the true helping hand ; 
And all the reforms for humanity's good 
Soon unite all nations in true brotherhood. 
Then thou wilt rejoice that thy help has been given 
To lead human souls to harmony's heaven. 

Sada Bailey, 

now Sada Bailey Porter of Philadelphia , author of 
"Irene; or, The Road to Freedom." 

Alliance, 0., Sept, 12, 1875. 



Closing Words of Thomas Sutton, with the Presenta- 
tion of an Elegant Cane from the Spiritual Society 
of Worcester, Mass., Sept. 19, 1883. 

Veteran, walk on to your journey's rest, 
With your true and honest bearing, 

The bravest and the tenderest, 
The loving and the daring. 

Lines by L. B. Brown, Editor of the Eastern Star, at the 
Close of the Camp Meeting at Etna, Maine. 

Now let your spirit with ours blend, 
While we speak of humanity's friend, 
Who hath striven for forty years 
To banish superstitious fears, 
Preaching to the children of earth 
Of Spiritualism's modern birth. 



306 FORTY YEAKS ON 

Travelling from State to State, 
Oiling the hinges of Freedom's gate, 
For Reason's light he hath striven ; 
All these things he hath given 
Cheerfully to the human race : 
This veteran's name is Warren Chase. 

Brother, your wrinkled locks portend 

Your earth life is nearing its end ; 

But well you know in Reason's light 

You ever battled for the right, 

And can with these kind friends sing 

Memories that round our hearts will cling. 

Brother, » The Life Line of the Lone One" 
Will close in the rays of a spiritual sun, 
Shining with light, progression true, 
Shining because of men like you, 
Lighting the paths of those who sing 
Memories that round our hearts will cling. 

TO WARBEN CHASE. 

At his Seventieth Birthday Reception in San Francisco, 
Cal. By Anna D. Weaver of Jamestown, N.Y. 

On this glorious star-gemmed evening I speed on wings 

of thought, 
The shining silvery pinions that God in love hath wrought, 
Across this grand old continent and join the festive 

throng, 
Who meet to greet our hero with speech, and joy, and 

song. 

Fall gently, O ye shadows ! his sun is in the west ; 
And linger long, O twilight, in calm and peaceful rest ; 



THE SPIRITUAL ROSTRUM. 307 

And spread a golden halo o'er the charm that memory 

weaves ; 
A valiant life is garnering its ripened golden sheaves. 

We meet to place the milestone that marks his threescore 
years and ten, * 

And wreath it with the tributes of his own tongue and 
pen, 

With the valiant love of liberty that sheds enduring fame 

On him whose life-work ever is linked with Freedom's name. 

For while old Ocean's surging breast draws long, dim, 

gray coast-lines, 
And zephyrs play in palm-trees, and sigh in northern 

pines, 
He is the truest hero who serves the sufferer's needs ; 
His prayers are ever answered who speaks in loving deeds. 
«*« 

Then let us grandly celebrate this birthday of our guest, 
The foe of all oppressors, the friend of all oppressed ; 
At seventy strong, with armor on, fearless in power and 

might, 
His grand, true words, the gleaming swords, defend the 

truth and right. 

Then gently deal and kindly, and linger long, O Time, 
And stay the mental vigor of our hero in his prime ; 
And when the shadows gather and sink down within the 

west, 
Oh, bear him to his slumber, — place him tenderly to rest. 

And when he beholds the Orient in the illumined east 
Of that grander life but just beyond, and we gather to the 

feast, 
The laurels which this birthday twines of purity and truth, 
Our God shall place upon his brow with an immortal youth. 



308 FORTY YEARS ON 



TO WARREN CHASE. 

Written for, and Read at his 70th Birthday Reception, 
by Mrs. Sarah A. Harris, of Berkeley, Cal. 

If these few years of care and strife 
Fill out the measure of our life ; 
If life, commencing with our breath, 
Ceases with that which we call death, 
How sad a thing it were to live, 
How drear a thing to die ! 

If, like the wave upon the shore, 
Life rings its chime and is no more ; 
If like yon bark, all tempest-tossed, 
We stem life's tide but to be lost, 
How vain a thing it were to live, 
How hopeless then to die ! 

* 
If we, like sunset so intense, 

Which burns into the soul and sense, 
Or childhood's dream and old folks' lore, 
Could only live in memory's store, 
Ah, then it were not joy to live, 
For memory too would die ! 

If 'tween the cradle and the grave, 
Where willows weep and cypress wave, 
Come all there are of love's sweet dreams ; 
If from beyond no love-light gleams, 
'Twere better far we had not loved, 
Since that fond love must die. 

If like the seed we live again 

In summer bloom and autumn grain ; 

If like winter with frozen stream, 

Death holds spring-time and summer green ; 



THE SPIRITUAL ROSTRUM. 309 

Ah, then what joy it were to live ! 
More joyous still to die. 

If love which breaks the heart's repose, 
Unfolding like the summer rose, 
Lives on beyond death's sullen roar 
And greets us from the other shore ; 
Then it were better we had loved, 
E'en though the loved one die. 

Seventy years ! Life evermore ! 
A welcome from the other shore ; 
And now we hear the angels say, 
" Walk firmly, for we light the way, 
Which leads thee to a heavenly birth, 
From all the joys and griefs of earth." 
We trust thy future life may be 
From every care and sorrow free. 

A joy as full of light and love 

As yonder star-ray from above ; 

As blest with hope as sweet spring-time, 

As fraught with peace as days decline ; 

That into thy last eventide 

Heavenly harmonies may glide 

And waft thee to yon blissful shore, 

While angels chant, u Life Evermore." 

TRIBUTARY VERSES. 

Written for, and read by the Author, George C. Irvtn, 
at the seventieth birthday reception of warren 
Chase, held tn San Francisco, Cal. 

Just threescore years and ten have passed 
Since you upon life's sea were cast, 
A tiny waif, to make your way, 
From rosy youth to manhood gray. 



310 FORTY YEARS OK 

To many this a trifle seems 
Who spend their time in idle dreams, 
Who down the stream so smoothly glide. 
But never turn to breast the tide. 

No silver spoon was made for you, 
But povert} 7 and work to do ; 
Whate'er of life's success you've found 
You've gained a well-fonght battle-ground. 
Yours is a richer manhood for 
The stern uncompromising war 
You've made against Oppression's rod, 
And Superstition's angry God. 

At your head, anathemas 

With hate and envy all ablaze, 

Are hurled by bigots who would bind 

To forms and creeds the human mind ; 

But like a modern ship of mail, 

Impervious to iron hail, 

These curses never harmed a hair, 

But spent themselves upon the air. 

Whate'er of truth your mind has grasped, 
That to the world you've freely cast, 
Nor paused to think just who 'twould hit, 
Nor how the popular mind would fit. 
A pioneer, you've led the way 
'Gainst superstitions old and gray ; 
And crushing idols show the skill 
With which } t ou execute truth's will. 

All sugar-coated shams in you 
Have found persistent bitter foe ; 
But merit, worth, the cause of right, 
You champion with all your might. 



THE SPIRITUAL ROSTRUM. 311 

Dame Grunciy you have often shocked, 
The sanctimonious have mocked ; 
But Virtue's face you much admire, 
Believe true religion in pure desire. 

Do not believe a lengthened face 

Indicative of saving grace ; 

But grace lies in one's willingness 

To help a brother in distress. 

In short, you take no stock in creeds, 

That man's belief's best shown in deeds ; 

The surest way to joys in heaven 

To comfort hearts by sorrow riven. 

And we are glad this night to say, 
God speed you on your upward way ; 
Continue still to spread the light 
Till backward rolls dark Error's night ; 
Till over every hungering soul 
Refreshing waves of truth shall roll; 
Till might of right sway all mankind, 
And hands of love more closely bind ; 
Till spears to plowshares shall be beat, 
And men no more their brothers meet 
Like beasts of prey ; but each a friend 
Shall comfort, joy, assistance lend. 

Reward — if any you desire, — 
Except that holy living fire, 
That in each soul doth ever dwell 
When life is spent in doing well ; — 
You'll find it at the journey's end, 
Where earth and heaven do sweetly blend, 
And joys celestial greet your view, 
When you have passed the portal through. 



312 FOBTY YEARS ON 



RETROSPECTIVE AND PROSPECTIVE. 

Written for and read at a Reception tendered to War- 
ren Chase, on his Seventieth Birthday. By Mrs. La- 
verna Mathews. 

As the babe born in the manger 

Felt the cold world's scorn and hate, 

So a helpless infant stranger 
In a bleak New England State. 

All unwelcome to the hearthstone, — 
His only dower a mother's love, — 

These the first years of " The Lone One-" 
Till mother passed to home above. 

Then this helpless, homeless orphan - 
What was there for such as he ? — 

Cast upon the world's rough moorings, 
Void of human sympathy ; 

This poor outcast of creation — 
Fatherless, motherless, was he — 

Sent to earth in violation 
Of the laws of equity ; 

And the people we call u Christians " 

Were the first to cast a stone, 
At this poor despised orphan, 

In the life line of the " Lone." 

Bound in bondage by " selectmen" 

Till the years of twenty-one — 
Twenty-one was key to freedom 

To this boy, who friends had none. 

Labor — labor and exposure, — 
Unproportioned to his years, 



THE SPIRITUAL ROSTRUM. 313 

Beat and bruised until disclosure 
Found, at length, a list'ning ear. 

Then there came a gleam of sunshine 

Whispering of liberty — 
He would no longer bear such burdens ; 

This boy determined to be free. 

He ran away from cruel master, 

From the bondage he had borne ; 
His tired feet flew but the faster, 

As they bore him further on. 

But why on sad memories linger 
In " The Life Line of the Lone"? 

His angel mother's unseen finger 
Guides the footsteps of her son. 

From out the damps of sorrow, 

Like the water-lily's bloom, 
Thou hast risen in glorious triumph, 

Shedding light and sweet perfume. 

Thou didst rise to bless the nation 

With thy counsel and advice, 
And thy light has brought salvation, 

Dried the mourner's weeping eyes. 

Thou hast plead the cause of woman, 

Thou hast bid the fallen rise, 
Knowing every soul is human, 

And that none should we despise. 

In the councils of the nation 

Thou hast plead the poor man's cause ; 
Shown the rotten, rude foundation 

Of our earthly man-made laws. 



314 FORTY YEARS ON 

And when the " raps " at Hydesville 

First rang the reveille, 
Sounding the glorious gospel 

Of the soul's immortality, 

You were the first to catch its echo, 

And send it forth again, 
A.nd were never known to falter 

In sunshine or in rain. 

But often in the winter, 

Through the storm, and cold, and sleet, 
You have walked the weary distance 

Your engagements prompt to meet. 

Very often not receiving 

Scrip enough to pay your fare ; 

But this blessed truth of heaven 
Must be spoken everywhere. 

Thus you labor, all unselfish, 
By the help of spirit world, 

Till Truth's grand and glorious banner 
O'er all nations is unfurled. 

Oh, believe it not that heaven 

Is unmindful of her sons, 
When she spreads such glorious banquet 

For earth's starving little ones. 

As the babe in Bethlehem's manger 

Was born of low estate, 
So this star from old New Hampshire 

Has risen good and great. 

What though thy locks are silvered 
With the frost of seventy years ; 



THE 'SPIRITUAL ROSTRUM. 315 

What though thy feet have trodden 
Through sorrow's weight and tears ; 

The giant oak stands longer 

For the rough wind's cruel blast, 

And human souls are stronger 
When the trial hour is passed. 

What though old Time has silvered 

Thy locks of raven hair, 
And with his silent fingers 

Has written wrinkles there ; 

The frosts of seventy winters 

But make the fruitage ripe, 
And crown with radiant halo 

Your locks now silvered white. 

And when you cross the river, 

Through heaven's pearly gate, 
Across the bridge of silver 

Where loved ones fondly wait, — 

You will find that all life's sorrows, 

Which seemed so hard to bear, 
Will make a brighter morrow 

In your jewelled tempie there. 

WORDS OF CHEER. 
Written for Warren Chase by Susan M. Rodgers, Medium. 

The tide of life is vast and deep, 

Its course is ever onward ; 
Down rugged cliff, up lofty steep, 

It keeps its course straight homeward. 
The tide is sometimes deep and dark, 

And fearful we go forward, 



316 FORTY YEARS ON 

Till brighter waters lave our bark ; 

Then see our way straight homeward. 
As needle to the magnet true, 

The soul will still tend upward ; 
Through storm and cloud of darkest hue 

It keeps its course straight homeward. 
As storms will bid the magnet stray, 

So passions lead us downward ; 
But storm and passion pass away, 

And still we're tending upward. 
To the ever-faithful soul 

Which ever looketh sunward 
The path that leadeth to the goal 

Is short and leads straight homeward. 

Mrs. Anna E. Kirk to Warren Chase. 

There are gold-bright suns in worlds above, 
And blazing gems in worlds below ; 

Our world has love, and only love, 
For true worth and jewel glow. 

God's love is sunlight to the good, 

And woman's, pure as diamond's sheen ; 

Friendship's mystic brotherhood 
In twilight beauty lies between. 

TO WARREN CHASE. 

Send me one good April view, 
Send me one sweet drop of dew, 
Send me one fair fragrant flower, 
Such as used to come from 3^ou. 
Dig, oh dig around my heart, 
Plant the seeds of love and truth ; 
Make the germ of goodness start, 



THE SPIRITUAL ROSTRUM. 317 

While there yet is health and youth. 
May I feel when life is o'er, 
That it was not all in vain ; 
May a harvest line the shore, 
As the sands that line the main. 

J. G. N., 

Vineland, N.J. 

44 It is well she went before ; 
She'll be waiting at the door ; 
Over on the other shore 
Ye shall walk the golden floor 
Side by side forever more." 

" No matter what part of life's hill you are on, 

If you wish to mount up to the summit or top, 
This motto observe, while you're trudging along : 
4 It is folly to whine and a sin to give up.' " 

4i Sorrow and joy, that interweave 
The raven with the golden locks. 
Fall brings to those who sigh and grieve 
Their souls' autumnal equinox." 

44 A weary time thou'st been away, 

And yet I see thee, hear thee still ; 

Thy form is with me night and day, 
And thoughts of thee my bosom fill ; 

Thine image is to me like air, 

For it surrounds me everywhere." 

44 Responsive to our longing, 
In the great future thronging, 
Lost joys to man belonging, 
Beckon him to his home ; 
There, faith no more benighted ; 
There, love to love joy plighted ; 
There, sundered hearts united ; 
There, all that buds shall bloom." 



318 FORTY YEARS ON 



OUR OLD PIONEERS. 



Yes, they are crossing and joining the ranks, 
Gathered together on Jordan's fair banks ; 
Over the river, its shimmer and sheen, 
Oft in a vision of glory they're seen, 
Crowned with the light and knowledge of years, — ~ 
These old pioneers. 

Joining the soul life to which they have grown ; 
Sharing the harvest whose seed they have sown ; 
Throwing aside the old vestment of care, 
Shining and beautiful garments they wear ; 
Lifting the veil without trembling or fears, — 
These old pioneers. 

You should not mourn though you miss them to-day, 
Higher the life that is over the way ; 
Earth cannot keep the pure spirits that rise 
Back to the love reaching down from the skies. 
They have no need of your sorrow or tears, — 
These old pioneers. 

Back to your earth life they often will roam, 
Bringing the light of their beautiful home, 
Shedding a glorified radiance down, 
Weaving for mortals a wonderful crown, 
Transmitting truths from the heavenly spheres, — 
These old pioneers. 

Hold you the ports that their valor has won ; 

Finish the work that their hands have begun ; 

Work as they worked for a purified cause ; 

Study, as they, into God's mystic laws ; 

Somewhere you'll meet in the love-lighted spheres 

Your old pioneers. 

Emma Train. 



THE SPIRITUAL ROSTRUM. 319 

Continual rivers make full seas ; 
Tumultuous streams are soonest dry ; 
Stars breed like birds, and multiply ; 
Death seasons food of richest taste ; 
Experience knows not haste or waste ; 
The surest boat hath pilots twain ; 
The womb of wealth grows big with pain ; 
Fires cure the cold, but love, heart chill ; 
Death comes from feebleness of will ; 
Roses take hue from lovers' lips ; 
Death ends, as does the sun's eclipse. 

T. L. Harris. 

In the street the tide of being, how it surges, how it rolls ! 
God ! what base, ignoble faces ; God ! what bodies want- 
ing souls. 
* * * * * * * * 

Passion, as it runs, grows purer, loses every tinge of clay, 
As from Dawn, all red and turbid, flows the white, trans- 
parent Day ; 
And in mingled lives of lovers the array of human ills 
Breaks their gentle course to music, as the stones break 
summer rills. Alexander Smith. 

The cloud which bursts with thunder 

Slakes our thirsty souls with rain ; 

The blow most dreaded falls to break 

From off our limbs a chain ; 

And wrongs of man to man but make 

The love of God more plain, 

As through the shadowy lens of even 

The eye looks farthest into heaven, 

On gleams of star and depths of blue, 

The glowing sunshine never knew. 

Whittier. 



320 FORTY YEARS ON 

Never yet could I discover, 

Though I've struggled hard to learn, 
That the rich could bolt out sorrow from the door ; 

Or that wisdom, very wise 

In its own and others' eyes, 
Did not nurse some little folly at the core ; 

Never yet I knew a man 
' Who made others' good his plan, 
Who was not overpaid in peace of mind ; 

Nor a worshipper of self, 

And a scraper-up of pelf, 
Whose treasures were not scattered to the wind. 

Charles Mackay. 

Close by the gate of the heavenly world, 
An angel boy stood with his bright wings furled, 
And an earnest light in his blue eye shone, 
As he waited there for an absent one. 
She came at last, and a shout of joy 
Rang out from the lips of the angel boy ; 
It rattled through arches of heaven's high dome : 
My mother ! my mother ! she has come ! she has come ! 

8. N. Wittard. 

PROGRESS, 

Let there be many windows in your soul, 

That all the glory of the universe 
May beautify it. Not the narrow pane 

Of one poor creed can catch the radiant rays 
That shine from countless sources. Tear away 

The blinds of superstition ; let the light 
Pour through fair windows broad as truth itself 

And high as God. 

Why should the spirit peer 

Through some priest-curtained orifice, and grope 



THE SPIRITUAL ROSTRUM. 321 

Along dim corridors of doubt, when all 

The splendor from unfathomed seas of space 
.Might bathe it with golden waves of love ? 

Sweep up the debris of decaying faiths ; 
Sweep down the cobwebs of worn-out beliefs, 

And throw your soul wide open to the light 
Of Reason and of Knowledge. Tune your ear 

To all the wordless music of the stars 
And to the voice of nature, and your heart 

Shall turn to truth and goodness, as the plant 
Turns to the sun. A thousand unseen hands 

Reach down to help you to their peace-crowned heights, 
And all the forces of the firmament 

Shall fortify your strength. Be not afraid 
To thrust aside half truths and grasp the whole. 

Ella WJieeler Wilcox. 

A LOST CHORD. 

Seated one day at the organ, 

I was weary and ill at ease, 
And my fingers wandered idly 

Over the noisy keys. 

I do not know what I was playing, 

Or what I was dreaming then ; 
But I struck one chord of music, 

Like the sound of the great Amen. 

It flooded the crimson twilight 

Like the close of an Angel's Psalm, 

And it lay on my fevered spirit, 
With a touch of infinite calm. 

It quieted pain and sorrow, 

Like love overcoming strife ; 
It seemed the harmonious echo 

From our discordant life. 



322 FORTY YEARS ON 

It linked all perplexed meanings 

Into one perfect peace, 
And trembled away into silence 

As if it were loth to cease. 

I have sought, but I seek it vainly, 

That one lost chord divine, 
Which came from the soul of the organ, 

And entered into mine. 

It may be that Death's bright angel, 

Will speak in that chord again ; 
It may be that only in heaven 

I shall hear that grand Amen. 

Adelaide Annie Proctor. 



WHAT IS NOBLE? 

What is noble to inherit ? 

Wealth, estate, and proud degree - 
There must be some other merit 

Higher } T et than those for me ! 
Something greater far must enter 

Into life's majestic span ; 
Fitted to create and centre 

True nobility in man ! 

What is noble ? 'Tis the finer 

Portion of our mind and heart, 
Linked to something still diviner 

Than mere language can impart ; 
Ever prompting — ever seeing 

Some improvement yet to plan ; 
To uplift our fellow-being, 

And, like man, to feel for man. 



THE SPIRITUAL ROSTRUM. 323 

What is noble ? Is the sabre 

Nobler than the humble spade? 
There is dignity in labor 

Truer than e'er pomp arrayed ! 
He who seeks the mind's improvement 

Aids the world in aiding mind ; 
Every great commanding movement 

Serves not one — but all mankind. 

O'er the forge's heat and ashes, 

O'er the engine's iron head, 
Where the rapid shuttle flashes, 

And the spindle whirls the thread ; 
There is labor lowly tending 

Each requirement of the hour, 
There is genius still extending 

Science — and its world of power ! 

'Mid the dust and speed and clamor 

Of the loom-shed and the mill ; 
'Midst the clink of wheel and hammer, 

Great results are growing still ! 
Though too oft by Fashion's creatures 

Work and workers may be blamed, 
Commerce need not hide its features ! 

Industry is not ashamed ! 

What is noble? That which places 

Truth in its enfranchised will, 
Leaving steps — like angel traces — 

That mankind may follow still ! 
E'en though Scorn's malignant glances 

Prove him poorest of his clan, 
He's the noble who advances 

Freedom and the cause of man ! 

Charles Swain. 



324 FORTY YEABS ON, ETC. 

BEYOND. 

It seemeth such a little way to me 

Across to thr *■ strange country — the Beyond ; 

And yet, not stra r ge, for it has grown to be 
The home of those of whom I am so fond, 

They make it seem familiar and most dear, 

As journeying friends bring distant regions near. 

So close it lies, that when my sight is clear 
I think I almost see the gleaming strand. 

I know I feel those who have gone from here 

Come near enough sometimes, to touch my handc 

I often think, but for our veiled eyes, 

We should find heaven right round about us lies. 

I cannot make it seem a day to dread, 

When from this dear earth I shall journey out 

To that still dearer country of the dead, 

And join the lost ones, so long dreamed about. 

I love this world, yet shall I love to go 

And meet the friends who wait for me, I know. 

I never stand above a bier and see 

The seal of death set on some well-loved face 

But that I think, u One more to welcome me, 
When I shall cross the intervening space 

Between this land and that one ' over there ' ; 

One more to make the Strange Beyond seem fair." 

And so for me there is no sting in death, 
And so the grave has lost its victory. 

It is but crossing — with abated breath, 
And white, set face — a little strip of sea, 

To find the loved ones waiting on the shore, 

More beautiful, more precious than before. 

Ella Wheeler Wilcox. 




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